CSS: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Cascading Style Sheets can turn humdrum websites into highly-functional, professional-looking destinations, but many designers merely treat CSS as window-dressing to spruce up their site’s appearance. You can tap into the real power of this tool with CSS: The Missing Manual. This second edition combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you how to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. Witty and entertaining, this second edition gives you up-to-the-minute pro techniques. You’ll learn how to:

• Create HTML that’s simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS
• Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders
• Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars — complete with rollover effects
• Create effective photo galleries and special effects, including drop shadows
• Get up to speed on CSS 3 properties that work in the latest browser versions
• Build complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs
• Style web pages for printing

With CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, you’ll find all-new online tutorial pages, expanded CSS 3 coverage, and broad support for Firebox, Safari, and other major web browsers, including Internet Explorer 8. Learn how to use CSS effectively to build new websites, or refurbish old sites that are due for an upgrade.

Table of Contents

Part One: CSS Basics
1. Rethinking HTML for CSS
2. Creating Styles and Style Sheets
3. Selectors: Identifying What to Style
4. Saving Time with Style Inheritance
5. Managing Multiple Styles: The Cascade

Part Two: Applied CSS
6. Formatting Text
7. Margins, Padding, and Borders
8. Adding Graphics to Web Pages
9. Sprucing Up Your Site’s Navigation
10. Formatting Tables and Forms

Part Three: CSS Page Layout
11. Introducing CSS Layout
12. Building Float-Based Layouts
13. Positioning Elements on a Web Page

Part Four: Advanced CSS
14. CSS for the Printed Page
15. Improving Your CSS Habits
16. CSS 3: CSS on the Edge

Part Five: Appendixes
Appendix A: CSS Property Reference
Appendix B: CSS in Dreamweaver CS4
Appendix C: CSS Resources