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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6082 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Back Cover
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

Customer Reviews

Extremely useful - again
The underlying theme of Dan Cederholm's books is that craftmanship is the essence of good web design. The web craftsman seeks to ensure that each element of a design is built using robust code that will adapt to the requirements of different browsers and user display settings. Every aspect of the interface, no matter how small, deserves the designer's full attention and respect.

This concept is made explicit in 'Handcrafted CSS'. Through the book Dan quietly unfolds the most persuasive case I've yet read that web designers should be using CSS3 now to enhance designs for those browsers that can support it. He shows how to use incredibly useful CSS3 tools such as border-radius, rgba and transition effects without damaging the user experience of those with older browsers. There's also a very useful discussion of the merits of using the 'clearfix' method to clear floats: Dan supports it, but with some significant caveats.

As with his previous books Dan focuses on the design techniques that designers actually use, day-in-day out. Five years or so after their first publication his earlier books 'Web Design Solutions' and 'Bulletproof CSS' are still by my desk. 'Handcrafted CSS' is more of the same, and highly recommended.

As a bonus the book includes a fine chapter by Ethan Marcotte discussing fluid grid designs. If time or opportunity allowed a full book by Mr Marcotte would be most welcome!

excellent
This is the second title that I own by Dan Cederholm. His books are a must for any web designer. Although the books will not teach you the basics of CSS or HTML, they will give you a full insight into the workings of a professional websites. This book is a must, the only down side to this book is that it is only 220 pages, I would love it to be twice the size.

An excellent book for a working professional
The problem I find with a lot of CSS books is they tend to cover the basics, and aren't much use to a working professional. This book however is an exception. It discusses CSS 3 techniques in some depth, and how they can be applied to real world projects today. I always say that if you get one great idea from a book then it's almost always worth the asking price. I got several from this book.

Definitely gets a thumbs up from me!