Bought this one in a hurry and was dissapointed when I got home. The author spends too much ink on staff (i.e web standards)she could have covered in one or two paragraphs. As a matter of fact the entire book could have been written in less than half the number of pages the author consumed with this book. After my dissapointment, I went online and in two hours I knew more on CSS that what the book provided. Online tutorials (which are free by the way)are lightyears better than what you will learn from this book.

This book did supply me with a few new tidbits and ideas but they did not amount to a worthwhile return for the price. Very pretty but too little spread too thin. I have a couple of Visual Quick Start (VQS) books which are much better CSS technical resources. You might find it interesting though as it is written specifically from the designers view and my interests are more functional.

I bought the book because I just wanted to be sure I had the big picture as far as CSS goes and it did not really satisfy that requirement. I would recommend the VQS books over it because they go much further and will prove more valuable as reference books over time.

Molly Holzschlag has produced a well-crafted, clear and helpful book that fills a gap in Web site development literature. I had been looking for a primer on CSS that will prepare me for deeper treatments of the subject, and this book fits the bill.

I’ve been using CSS for some time, but doing so timidly, confining it primarily to font specifications. This was partly because of the browser compatibility and compliance problems that have plagued CSS but also because I needed a better understanding of CSS’s big picture. CSS: The Designer’s Edge certainly addressed the latter problem for me. After working through the book (doing all of the exercises), I have a much clearer picture of CSS, my CSS skills are much further along, and I have greater confidence in my execution of those skills.

I should note that Molly starts from the beginning. It is a book for the beginner and the intermediate. It is certainly not for the advanced CSS technician. In fact, if anything, I would have preferred that she had delved deeper into some of the subject areas, especially the “box model” and “positioning” in general. With that said, the book has allowed me to comfortably read on various topics that I wanted to know more about. And I now feel ready to tackle CSS on an advanced level.

What I really like about Molly’s writing is her commitment to being helpful to her readers. I get the distinct sense that she really cares that her readers learn the material and learn it well. Besides being careful in presenting the material, she is always inserting valuable tips and practical ideas along the way that one usually only finds out about after long periods of trial-and-error.

I would have liked to have given this book four-stars. I give it three-stars instead. One flaw has prevented me from the higher rating. The book is laden with typos (confined primarily to the first half). It was as if Sybex (the publisher) paid the copy editor to sleep on the job. I e-mailed my displeasure of this directly to Molly. I’m sure plenty of others have done the same. She is fully aware of the problem. Sybex has done the author a major disservice. Nonetheless, as annoying as the typos are, I think that the book is a valuable learning tool for developers who want a good intro to CSS.

If you are a designer used to WYSIWYG tools but would like to get your feet wet in CSS, then this is absolutely the book for you. Molly does a terrific job introducing all the basic concepts and the examples get you up and running in no time. I couldnt recommend a better book for the CSS novice.

The book takes about 200 pages to go through the basics of CSS and with color diagrams to demonstrate what the text was saying. And that is good.

But Chapter 7 "Reconstructing a Table-Based Site" is poorly executed. All you get for that chapter from the downloadable ZIP file are text files consisting of snippets of the CSS. But the main HTML file isn't included. I have no idea what was being styled.

Also, I wish the author had expanded upon using background image files as a substitue for Javascript rollovers which is briefly mentioned in Chapter 7.

I have Eric Meyer's book on CSS. That is a more worthwhile purchase. The "code" that comes with it is more complete.

When I decide what to review there are times when I choose something to help me out. In the case with this book I am working with a client to teach HTML and CSS and this book fits right into the CSS part of the course.

The use of effective CSS is and can be a vital part of web page design, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find this book. The author breaks down the world of CSS into easy to follow and understandable guide.

More than just how to code, this book explains what can happen with the code. The author takes you step by step and not only explains the concept but also gives you a visual tour to enhance the learning process.

For my money this book certainly does what I need it to do. I found that learning and understanding CSS has gotten easier by the page. Overall an excellent job!