The book doesn’t aim to teach CSS from scratch; it presumes that you’re a working developer with a good knowledge of web technologies, especially CSS, and you want to take your knowledge to the next level. It aims to translate the sometimes complex specification into something that’s easier to understand, and has plenty of code examples and illustrations to aid in achieving that aim.

It’s not a book of step-by-step techniques, it’s for keeping at hand to use as a resource; and as such, I believe it’s the first book of it’s kind on this topic. There are plenty of books available which teach you about the exciting visual elements of CSS3 like animations, border radius, and so on, and while my book certainly covers those areas it also goes deeper into looking at new layout methods and what we can expect to see in the future.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you should find plenty in the book that you’ll enjoy; many of the more popular posts I’ve written, such as Using Media Queries in the Real World or CSS gradient syntax: comparison of Mozilla and WebKit, have been adapted for the book in one way or another.

If you’d like to read a sample the publisher has made available a PDF of Chapter 6: Text Effects and Typographic Styles.

You can buy The Book of CSS3 direct from the publisher, No Starch Press, as either a print copy with free eBook (PDF, ePub or Mobi), or eBook alone. You can also order the print book from many online retailers including Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

There’s a companion website with examples and resources from the book, which I aim to keep updated so that it becomes a constant online reference guide; with browser implementation of CSS3 changing so quickly it’s inevitable that some references in the print book will become outdated in the long term, so the website should go some way to combating that.

I’m anxiously awaiting the first reviews, although initial feedback has been promising. I hope it’s popular not only because I put a lot of time and effort into it — the sense of achievement I have from writing it has been worth all of that effort on it’s own — but also because I believe it’s a book that will be of great use to many people. (I know, I would say that!)

In the article I explain how to build a dynamic Contact area, as we did on our recent redesign of Preloaded.com, using the Web Storage API and the BBC’s Glow Javascript library.

I’m not sure what the rights situation is with this article, but I hope that at some point in the future I’ll be able to post it here on my blog. But in the meantime, you can buy a copy of Net magazine in the UK at all good newsagents, as the saying goes (I don’t know if it will be in overseas editions also).

On the subject of print, I’m also currently writing a book about CSS3 which should be published later this year. I’ll have more information on that nearer the time.

I’m not saying that to boast of my geek credentials, but to introduce something I never imagined I’d find: a connection between the two.

Garrett’s famous diagram introduced the concept of the five Elements which make User Experience on the web:

He later distilled those five elements to: Strategy; Scope; Structure; Skeleton; Surface.

McCloud’s book is an analysis of the visual language of comics, and he lists six elements which he says make up any work in any medium: Idea/Purpose; Form; Idiom; Structure; Craft; Surface.

I think you can see where I’m going with this; although McCloud uses six steps to Garrett’s five, the mapping is still quite straightforward:

1. User Needs / Site Objectives = Idea / Purpose
2. Content Requirements = Form & Idiom
3. Information Architecture = Structure
4. Information Design = Craft
5. Visual Design = Surface

Although I can’t be the first to draw the parallel, I think it’s quite nice. It adds extra validation to both concepts, and helps me to convince my friends and colleagues that reading comics isn’t a sign of arrested development.

I recommend both books very highly, of course.

The latest book I’ve received is The Art & Science of CSS by Cameron Adams, Jina Bolton, David Johnson, Steve Smith and Jonathan Snook. The subtitle — Create Inspirational, Standards-Based Web Designs, sums up very nicely what it’s all about.

The book is well laid out, with plenty of full-colour illustrations and clear code examples. It tackles seven key elements of web design and development — Headings, Images, Backgrounds, Navigation, Forms, Rounded Corners, and Tables — and presents the latest thinking and techniques on the best way to implement them.

It focuses on simple methods which use minimal, standards-based markup, showing how they work across different browsers and working around their limitations without using hacks. Where presentational markup is required for the examples, explanation is always provided as to why that’s necessary.

I would say that it’s aimed at post-beginners (is that a word?); that is, it assumes you have a slightly more than passing knowledge of CSS, but perhaps haven’t been using it regularly. In all honesty, if you’ve got a few years experience under your belt and read plenty of websites and blogs to keep your arsenal up-to-date, there probably isn’t much in here that will surprise you.

Having said that, the techniques shown are all good, solid, commonsense methods, and it’s always worth keeping them in mind when starting a new project. The chapters on Forms and Tables were particularly useful to me, as they are elements I probably spend less time on than I should, and I think I’ll be referring to them regularly.

I’d recommend this book without hesitation to anyone who is keen to take their CSS skills onto intermediate level and beyond (and would further recommend Dan Cederholm’s Web Standards Solutions as a companion volume); if you’re a more experienced professional it’s not an essential, but certainly worthy of a place on your bookshelf.

Q: Why do I need this site?

A: ‘Cause you don’t want to read CSS books of 500+ pages…

I’d suggest that you’d learn a lot more reading a book than you would just copying someone else’s templates. Plus, I don’t think there are many CSS books of 500+ pages.

I’m mostly self-taught, but there’s no way I would have been able to make a career out of it — and keep interested in it — without the aid of the books below.

Please note: I’m not saying that these are necessarily the best books available, just that they have been — and continue to be — inspirational to me. OK, in no particular order…

• Designing With Web Standards, by Jeffrey Zeldman

  Probably the daddy of them all. This book explains clearly and concisely the importance of maintaining standards and why the old tables-based websites should be phased out. Encouraged me to make the big shift from my old bad habits.

  There’s a lot of theory in this book, and it’s probably only halfway through that the code examples begin to appear; but that doesn’t stop it from being an interesting read. Although it’s apparently showing its age a little now, much of the theory is still valid and I’d recommend this to any entry-level developers.

• Web Standards Solutions, by Dan Cederholm

  After Zeldman’s book, I’d recommend this. It picks up the themes and runs with them, providing plenty of real-life coding examples, many of which I still use to this day. It covers all of the principal HTML elements we use day-to-day, and you’ll feel like an expert when you finish it.

• DOM Scripting, by Jeremy Keith

  When you’ve got your HTML and CSS up to scratch, this is an excellent introduction to adding enhancements to your pages, without unnecessary and intrusive code. Easy to follow examples will have you making more interactive and dynamic pages in no time.

• Transcending CSS, by Andy Clarke

  My latest read, and a real treat. A beautifully designed and illustrated manifesto of progressive web design, based on a solid understanding of design and markup. Oversized and full colour throughout, it’s the closest thing yet to a web development coffee table book — but don’t think it’s just pretty, it’s also very useful.

  I gave a fuller review over at CSS3.info, and I’m finding it more and more useful. I can’t wait to see what web pages look like in a year’s time when more people have read this.

• CSS Pocket Reference, by Eric A. Meyer

  Last but by no means least, this is indispensable to me. Exactly what it says it is: a pocket-sized guide to CSS2.1 selectors. I carry this around with me always; after all, it’s hard to remember every single facet of CSS, and it’s a lot quicker than visiting W3Schools.com, for example.

  I can’t wait until there’s a CSS3 edition — at the very least, I’ll need to replace my battered and dog-eared copy soon.

So, that’s my pick of the books that have helped me the most in my career to date. I’d love to hear of any recommendations to add to my library.