The zen of CSS design

What Hacker News says

1. RyanODJan 2026
   Thinking back to days with The Zen of CSS Design, this is just incredible.

   It's the weekend! Take a journey back in time...

   https://csszengarden.com/

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2. replwoacauseMay 2025
   Great article, a nice trip down memory lane. I still have my copy of “The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web” somewhere. I know Dave Shea wasn’t mentioned, but this book was my intro into design on the earlyish web.
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3. pantulisApr 2025
   There was a book by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag called "The zen of CSS design" that explained some of the tricks of the most amazing themes. On my last cleaning I let go of a lot of now obsolete books but that book remains, it's so beautiful!
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4. patricklynchDec 2017
   My favorite resources are now all slightly dated; I haven't really kept up with the cutting edge as I've moved away from design and towards development.

   ---

   Web:

   A List Apart, especially the articles section - https://alistapart.com/articles

   CSS Zen Garden - http://www.csszengarden.com/

   Magic Ink - Information Software and the Graphical Interface, by Bret Victor - http://worrydream.com/#!2/MagicInk

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   Print:

   Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic Layouts with CSS, by Zoe Mickley Gillenwater

   The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web, by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag

   Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design, by Andy Clarke

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5. danwApr 2009
   The Zen of CSS Design for me.

   It takes submissions to the CSS Zen garden and uses them as examples of what techniques you can use for layout, typography, images, etc

   It suits my learning style of visual diagrams and reverse-engineering things to see how they work.

   http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321303474?ie=UTF8&ta...

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6. peterbradenApr 2009
   Not a book, google.

   CSS is such an evolving art - browser inconsistencies and their related hacks are constantly changing, and best practises are continually being developed.

   It seems ironic to me that you would revert to using dead-tree media for instruction on how to style the cutting edge. If you simply need an introduction to css then w3schools can't be beat.

   Oh, and I also own zen of css design, which is pretty good if you must have a physical book.

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