Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) By Example teaches CSS in a way that should be easy for anyone with reasonable facility using HTML. It is not a tome like Eric Meyer's Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, but it is nonetheless a technically rigorous work. The emphasis is on getting readers up to speed in a step-by-step manner.

I reviewed the online version at Safari (http://safari.oreilly.com/) and downloaded the sample documents from the author's web site at http://www.callihan.com/cssbook/. The theme of the book is "by example," and it delivers on that theme. The samples are well thought out from a teaching point of view. Each contains elements that gave a good look at the concepts being taught. As with HTML, CSS is best learned by doing, and the examples allow the reader to use already prepared documents and add CSS to them. Readers should be able to stay on track and not get discouraged by too much typing. I confess that since I was reading an online version, I generally copied and pasted the CSS code into the downloaded examples--a slight cheat, but I don't think it seriously detracted from my learning experience.

The author starts off with an overview of how to use CSS and in subsequent chapters steps back to the beginning to go through the training from the start. The first section thus has a lot of references to what is to come in later chapters, but I think it is helpful for a beginner to see the big picture before getting into the details. I thought the balance was about right, and the order of topics was logical.

The book builds to the point of using positioning to create a page with three columns, one of the most challenging aspects of tables-free design. I found that the example of three columns did not work in Mozilla browsers, though it did in Opera and Explorer. I posted a question on the example to the author, and he responded within a day with the explanation and a corrected example. Any author giving that much attention to his work deserves support.

Real-world advice on what works or doesn't and what is best practice is interspersed throughout the lessons. I value these kinds of features as they save time in trial and error, particularly with different browsers. Obviously, the advice will change over time as browsers develop, but the basics will remain true for a long time.

The appendices include a useful CSS reference, a section on using CSS with other technologies like DHTML, and an overview of CSS software tools. The author's web site has errata, links to additional resources, and the sample pages described above.

As with so many books on web design now on the market, this one is about two years old, and it could use a second edition. There have been browser developments even in that short time, such as the release of Internet Explorer 6.0, that would change some of the advice. I suspect that the author also might have a different perspective now on how far back to go to accommodate older browsers. Considering that sites like ABC.com and ESPN.com no longer display in version 4 browsers and instead tell visitors to upgrade, it would be interesting to see what Mr. Callihan has to say to current web designers. Within the vintage of browsers covered, though, the book has plenty of suggestions on which styles work and which are problematic. Hopefully, this edition has had sufficient readership to encourage the author and the publisher to produce an updated version.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) By Example is an excellent introduction to CSS. It is slightly dated in terms of browsers, but it effectively takes the reader from the basics of CSS through advanced techniques. I would recommend this book for individuals at the early through intermediate level of CSS experience and as a reference for CSS training classes.

Great book until halfway through. I found the black and white graphics a bit hard on the eye when the actual work was so colorful. Perhaps better coding examples would have helped?

Also noticed the files on the authors website did not always match the files in the book. this caused me to put down the book in frustration at least once.

I do recommend this book for beginners though. The author will hold your hand and walk you through the examples as you learn.

Great beginning companion/stepping stone to "Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design"

Between the two books you should be ready to go.

The first thing I do when buying any computer book is go to the inevitable corresponding website and look up the errata page. I did that here and, as with most such books, there were errors. I spend 20 minutes going through with a printout of the errata sheet and a pen making corrections before I even read it.

That being done, this is an excellent introduction to CSS. I knew HTML very well, but knew nothing about CSS at all; and by the time I was done I was able to completely rewrite a 10xnested-tables/spacer gif/graphical text layout website (see 'realtymort' website if you're curious) into an entirely CSS-based site that works in every single browser I tested (gracefully degrading in the css-ignorant Netscape 4). Not a table nor unnecessary graphic to be found (except for some... ahem... tabular data that I dared to actually put in a table ;) Also, the new site was roughly 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the original and loads significantly faster and displays more consistently across browsers and platforms.

This book gives a rock solid foundation in CSS. It is perhaps lacking in cutting-edge advanced topics, but it seems that such methods are not supported in too many major browser versions to be all that useful yet anyways. In terms of stuff you can actually _use_, _today_, well... I would definitely recommend this book.

I very much like the concept of teaching with examples and this book does that well. I think this is an excellent book for those who are new to css and html. It is too shallow for people at an intermediate level of either of those skills.

If the author's intent was a beginners-only level book, then I should rate this as a 5-star product. If it was intended to bring the reader to an intermediate level, then my rating is correct.

Good work, but it left me hungry before I got halfway through.

I was inspired to pick up some quick lessons on CSS after years of HTML, Javascript, and ASP programming. I did not want to pick up a bible on CSS for lack of time, so I chose Mr. Steve Callihan's book simply because of its title. I am glad I did. I am not just learning from it. I was able to fly with CSS at work just after 2 weeks of learning and trying this book's examples. The author was quick to respond to my email too. His web site [website] contains is extremely resourcesful as well. This book is worth every penny of it and more.

This book started of great. I learned quite a bit about CSS from Eric Meyer's books so when I saw he wrote the foreword, it showed promise. That dwindled after the many typo's that were riddled throughout the book. I have a totally marked up copy of this book due to careless editing.

Editing this type of book is CRUCIAL since CSS is such a detail oriented process. When you forget to add a number or a semicolon, it simply will not work. This was the case time and time again.

Also, the accompanying Web site's downloads varied from what was presented in the book so even if you did as instructed to do, it will not match what was available on the Web site. The Web site files were consistently correct and should have mirrored what was written in the book, but this was NOT the case.

Overall, the book presents great information on CSS in a clear fashion, BUT it looses all credibility since the editorial staff failed to do their job.

I'm surprised at the reviews this book is receiving here, I can only assume the exposure these people had to CSS prior to purchasing this book was minimal at best. The reason I say this is because the book falls well short of the mark as a competent CSS guide, why you ask??? Well there is SO MUCH information missing on CSS here it is unbelievable. The book will leave huge chunks of information missing from your knowledge. Another reviewer made the bold statement that `this book can take you from beginning to expert level on CSS'; I almost choked when I read that, as nothing could be further from the truth.

This book was a gift from my g/f who knows nothing about computers and thought I knew nothing about CSS, she was wrong but I was stuck with this book so I decided to read it just in case it could give me further insights into CSS, maybe a few gold nuggets, well it didn't, it just misses out so much important information that I just wanted to throw the book away. Numerous fully supported properties and CSS selectors have been omitted here. You may argue that the books age may have something to do with it, but no, I have books on CSS older than this by over a year or two and they still cover CSS far better than this book. I even have a book that covers CSS as a sideline to the books main subject, and it is still covered much better than this book. This makes things sound even worse when you consider that this book is less than a year old (at the time of writing this). I'd also add that the authors writing style is so dull the boredom almost killed me, reading this book felt more like a prison sentence. Note that the author does admit that the book was rushed to press; well that explains an awful lot about its failings.

Others will argue here but they clearly don't have sufficient exposure to CSS to put a good and valid argument forward, I tell you the truth, I have extensive CSS knowledge and this book won't help you gain that kind of knowledge. It's true to say that no book has everything and that it always takes more than one book to get a good grasp of a language, but truthfully this book just misses out so much that I think it would be a bad purchase for anyone interested in CSS. For those who have already purchased and praised this book, well you just don't know how many gaps you have in your knowledge but you will one day.

After 3 weeks of learning HTML (with Sam's Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and XHTML in 21 Days by Laura Lemay) I bought Cascading Style Sheets for Dummies. It was DREADFUL. Undetered, I went out and bought this book.

Within days I was comfortable and happy with CSS. The real-world examples in the book and the clear way in which it has been laid out make it very easy to follow. Prior knowledge of HTML is going to be a big help, but HTML listings are provided for everything.

Steve Callihan has created the ultimate beginners guide to CSS here.

So you know HTML, you've probably heard of styles sheets, and you want to know more. You want to actually learn them instead of having some confusing reference that assumes you know something already. Hands down, this is your book. Period.

You can download example files and use them with the easy to understand exercises in the book. Unlike many computer books, this one is in ENGLISH and the examples actually WORK! Pretty nifty eh?

Not only does Steve make style sheets easy to learn, he gives you a heads up as to what browsers may have trouble interpreting style sheets and what to do about it. I've tested these out, primarily in Opera and IE, with no problems whatsoever. (At least) basic knowledge of CSS will make design and presentation of web pages more fluid and easier to manage. It will also come in handy if you focus on search engine optimization.

Do you need any special software to get the most out of this book?

No.

Has Microsoft taken any functionality out of their "consumer" operating systems that will prevent you from using this book?

No, you can learn CSS on just about any platform or OS.

What do you need besides this book to learn CSS?

A plain text editor like notepad and a browser will do the trick.

Buy this book if you want to learn style sheets from scratch. Don't even consider anything else. Great work Steve, Thanks!

I have read two other books written by Mr. Callihan and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is another great book. When I first opened the book I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't even know what a CSS was. I had just heard the term and was curious. At first glance, I was a little intimidated. There was a lot of coding in there! But as I worked through the lessons I began to understand not only what Style Sheets were but how they could make my web site development easier and cleaner.

Mr. Callihan's instruction is clear and thorough. The examples, which he provides for download on his website, make working through the lessons a breeze. When I started the book I wasn't sure I was going to be able to learn the material, there was just so much. But by the end I could read other web developers code and understand what they were trying to do. Wonderful!

Mr. Callihan taught me HTML in a Weekend, now he's taught me CSS. I highly recommend this book for any web developer who would like to understand how to use Cascading Style Sheets in their web site.

If you can buy only one book to learn about CSS. This should be the book. In one short weekend, this book can take you from beginning to expert level on CSS.

Steve Callihan's first book, "Create Your First Web Page in a Weekend" helped me create my own website when I literally didn't know the first thing about how to go about it. He has a teaching style that starts out simply, without assuming prior knowledge. He lays a foundation and then builds on that. It was a great way to learn HTML, and now the same teaching style is helping me learn Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). HTML lets you establish the content of your web pages, but gives you very little control over their presentation. It was never intended to do things like set margins and font sizes, and the TABLE tag wasn't intended as a page layout tool but that's what everyone does with it. However, in this book, Mr. Callihan shows how you can use CSS for page layout and accomplish the same thing, only with much greater control. In fact, CSS gives you the power to control everything about your web pages to achieve any look you want, and it's easy! Steve's book goes way beyond just giving you the properties and values you can use with CSS, but he shows you (by example) HOW and WHY to use them. A lot of work obviously went into this book. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn CSS the easy way. Five stars!

If you want to learn about CSS and don't know where to start, start here. I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was when I worked thru this book. It is filled with explanations and examples to work and covers all the important topics of CSS. Best of all, the author has an outstanding website for reference and to download book examples. And if you run into problems, this author actually returns your email with answers in an extremely timely manner (always same day for me). Again, if you want to learn the latest web developing learning curve, buy this book!!!

Bob Samac

Do you want a book which teaches you CSS by examples and also have an author who is willing to help you with questions? Then, BE SURE to purchase this book. I purchased it only a few days after its publication and am very pleased with it. There are example files which you download from the book's website (This eliminates alot of unnecessary typing). A concept is explained and then you are given an example to type in the style sheet and then check in your browser to see what the affect is. This makes it very easy to understand and see the results. In addition, there are 3 appendix which give further valuable information. One in particular lists all the CSS1 properties and descriptions. If you are really interested in learning CSS, purchase THIS book.