More Eric Meyer on CSS

Before More Eric Meyer on CSS released, I downloaded all the source codes from the companion web site and study them to see if I can get by without reading the book. As a web designer who works with CSS on a daily basis, I could understand the codes presented; however, I am glad I have read the book. Otherwise, I would have missed out the concise and simple methods of presenting complex CSS driven web sites. It’s amazing how Eric Meyer makes intricate CSS layouts seem so easy to accomplish.

More Eric Meyer on CSS features 10 hands-on projects that could easily tailored to your own work. For instance, the first project fits perfectly for someone like me who is currently retrofitting all the Vassar College table-based design web sites to CSS layout. Whether you want to make a beautiful weblog, design an attractive homepage, or create nice round corner tab navigations, you’ll be in for some real deals. Project 10, Designing in the Garden, is simply an inspiration. It’s persuading me to design a version of Zen Garden for myself.

After following Eric’s step-by-step logical approaches to CSS, I have confident in pulling off any complex layout properly without any hacks to get the right visual design. Furthermore, the flexibility in his process demonstrates the power of separating content from presentation. In project 6, with a few tweaks in CSS, he has turned the CSS-driven drop-down menus from vertical to horizontal. In the Branching Out section at the end of each chapter, he encourages readers to rearrange the layout or further enhance the project with a few edits in CSS.

If you have a basic concept of CSS and would like to put your knowledge into practice, pick up this book. If you are new to CSS, I suggest you pick up his Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition before diving into this book because Eric doesn’t allow basic explanations interferes with the flow of the projects. This book is very focused and if you don’t have basic understanding of CSS, you might get confused. However, if you understand the basic, you’ll appreciate the brief and straightforward explanations the book provided.