CSS: The Missing Manual

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.

Now that Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) have finally come of age, web designers can take complete control of the appearance of their web pages. This text clearly explains this powerful design tool and how to use it.

This updated bestseller offers an introductory soup-to-nuts course in using CSS, with step-by-step instructions and all-new online tutorial web pages. Written in the witty and entertaining Missing Manual style, this second edition will cover more elements of CSS 3, the specification's latest version, and Internet Explorer 8. Newcomers and experienced web designers alike will learn how to tap into the real power of CSS to build sparklingly new websites, or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.

McFarland teaches Dreamweaver courses at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and at the Center for Electronic Arts. He's a partner in Skymind, a web development company.