Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design, Video Edition
- ISBN13: 9780321658531
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
There’s a real connection between craftsmanship and Web design. That’s the theme running through Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design, by bestselling author Dan Cederholm, with a chapter contributed by renowned Web designer and developer Ethan Marcotte. This book explores CSS3 that works in today’s browsers, and you’ll be convinced that now’s the time to start experimenting with it.
Whether you’re a Web designer, project manager, or a graphic designer wanting to learn more about the fluidity that’s required when designing for the Web, you’ll discover the tools to create the most flexible, reliable, and bulletproof Web designs. And you’ll finally be able to persuade your clients to adopt innovative and effective techniques that make everyone’s life easier while improving the end user’s experience. This book’s seven chapters deconstruct various aspects of a case-study Web site for the Tugboat Coffee Company, focusing on aspects that make it bulletproof and demonstrate progressive enrichment techniques over more traditional labor-intensive methods.
Subjects covered in this book include:
- building for unanticipated future use
- progressively enriching designs using CSS3 properties
- using RGBA color for transparency with an alpha channel
- modular float management
- crafting flexible frameworks
- fluid layouts using grid-based design principles
- craftsmanship details on typography, jQuery, and shifting backgrounds
The video included with this special edition features author Dan Cederholm as he illustrates 10 essential Web design guidelines. Enhancing the content in this book, the Handcrafted CSS: Bulletproof Essentials DVD will arm you with a checklist to make your next project a flexible, adaptable, and wellcrafted design.
I consider myself to be very capable when it comes to CSS layouts. I’ve only been through the first few chapters. While the later chapters to seem to have content that might challenge me (in a good way), the first few have not so much challenged me as much as provided a refreshing step-by-step walk-through of how one might approach the layouts of a few simple modules.
The video portion is an interesting addition by teaching the same content through a screencast-like approach. While I don’t think it is a necessary component, I found it to be a nice contrast for when you’re tired of just reading through the content.
Rating: 5 / 5
Dan Cederholm’s latest book packs a lot into a quick read. If you’re familiar with CSS, you can finish the book in a few hours, yet pick up several helpful techniques and really be inspired by the author’s point of view: that websites don’t need to look identical in every environment, and that designers should “progressively enrich” their designs with details that can be appreciated in capable browsers. At the same time, websites do need to be robust enough to withstand the unexpected.
Many of the techniques discussed allow the designer to move from extra markup and images to pure CSS solutions for things like rounded corners and alpha transparency. This should make the approach an easier sell to clients (who may want complete consistency across browsers) because it is faster to implement, easier to maintain, and more flexible if changes need to be made in the future.
The weakest chapter, I thought, was the Chapter 6 – The Fluid Grid. The writing is a little overly folksy, for my taste, and with most new browsers using “page zoom” rather than just “text zoom” as a default, I’m just not sure how essential or helpful the presented technique is. However, even this chapter describes an novel approach to sizing a site’s grid and major layout sections, which may prove useful or just make you consider grid sizing in a new light.
In sum, this is an excellent addition to your web design library.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve been a fan of Dan Cederholm’s for years and this book is a wonderful follow-up to Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (2nd Edition).
He has an easy-going, clear, instructive approach, making it easy to increase usability and accessibility of sites by using Web Standards and a little attention to detail.
Can’t recommend his books highly enough.
I bought the video version, which said it was ‘hardback’ on the Amazon site, but it’s actually a paperback, which is fine.
Rating: 5 / 5
If you make web sites, you need to OWN this book. It’s one that you’ll refer to time and time again. This book (along with Design With Web Standards) is a must have. The video edition is especially awesome. There are some things that are best said, rather than written. Dan knows his craftsmanship, you’ll undoubtedly view web design in a whole different light after reading this book and watching his tips on the companion video.
Rating: 5 / 5
Great book – very up to date and clearly presented. Best CSS book I’ve read.
Rating: 5 / 5