CSS
"Covers the key information a web designer must know to effectively implement CSS in web documents. It provides a quick introduction to the key concepts of CSS, an alphabetical reference to all the CSS1 properties, and detailed information about CSS support for Windows and Macintosh browsers including: Netscape Navigator Versions 4 and 6, Internet Explorer versions3, 4, 5, and 5.5, and Opera versions 3 and 4." Revision History May 2001:First Edition July 2004:Second Edition October 2004:Third Edition July 2011:Fourth Edition 2011-07-08:First Release 2016-06-10:Second Release
Stats for nerds
4recommend
9mentions
8people
2009–2025years
56% recommend44% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Early in my career these books were the most helpful to me as a self taught developer:
* CSS Pocket Reference - Eric Meyer - https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Pocket-Reference-Visual-Presentat...
* XML Schema - Priscilla Walmsley - https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-XML-Schema-Priscilla-Walms...
* DOM Scripting - Jeremy Keith - https://www.amazon.com/DOM-Scripting-Design-JavaScript-Docum...
- My first learning on data structures came from https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-XML-Schema-Priscilla-Walms...
Not a book but I learned what not to do and what to avoid in my earliest days of programming from the super opinionated tool JSLint.
This was my go to reference to learn CSS https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Pocket-Reference-Visual-Presentat...
As for language design I am mostly self taught through a lot of trial and error. For me it’s all about functions and variable scope. After that everything else is just a statement, expression or a data structure. With that I can write just about anything, make it scale, and keep it super simple to read.
- As a self taught developer there are only a few books I read early in my career that seriously impacted how I write code.
1. XML Schema by Priscilla Walmsley - https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-XML-Schema-Priscilla-Walms...
2. DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith - https://www.amazon.com/DOM-Scripting-Design-JavaScript-Docum...
3. CSS Pocket Reference - Eric Meyer - https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Pocket-Reference-Visual-Presentat...
Most of the developers I have worked with in my career are absolutely terrified by tree structures. They will admit otherwise like some kind of pathological liar, but this is easily exposed and that's so unfortunate. A tree structure is just a data structure like any other and embracing that liberates you from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome.
- I learned so much about structure and organization from https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-XML-Schema-Charles-Goldfar...
I learned the value of utility from Nicomachean Ethics in that it establishes a value hierarchy starting from the fragment: that which exists for its own sake.
I liked this book for establishing ethics as the basis for rapid growth in business: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0...
A lot of people struggle with CSS. It’s not hard but it take some solid practice to master. This is the best book: https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Pocket-Reference-Visual-Presentat...
Honesty is important. Brutal honesty forces changes to culture and everybody wins. It forces you to act with ethics for the welfare of the group: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/150...
Fear of innovation is a form of hecklers veto, more so when popularity or a majority is threatened. Originality, even when wrong, is always more important: On Liberty.
- The definitive book is Designing with Web Standards. Not all CSS per se, but it is requisite reading if you're just getting into the whole CSS-based design thing.
That book goes hand in hand with Eric Meyer on CSS.
- To this day, every CSS I write for a website starts with a copy of the Meyerweb CSS Reset. I've been doing it for so many years yet never thought twice about it.
Only a couple months ago I decided to check what Mr Meyer was up to. I bought his book Design for Real life thinking it was about CSS. I was delightedly surprised by the breadth of new things I learned about design that I had never considered before.
