Contents of This Book

The most common way I use a book like this is to crack it open from time to time when trying to solve a particular problem. To that end, this book will serve well on a web builder's desk ‚ always within reach to resolve a problem with CSS. However, you are still free to read the book from the first page to the last.

The following paragraphs review the contents of each chapter:

Chapter 1, discusses how to use CSS to specify fonts in web pages, headings, pull quotes, and indents within paragraphs, as well as other solutions.

Chapter 2, covers a loose collection of items that don't necessarily fit in every chapter, but that all carry a theme of affecting the design of the overall page. Solutions in this chapter include centering elements, setting a background image, placing a border on a page, and other techniques.

Chapter 3, shows how to use CSS to control the presentation of a link and sets of links. Solutions range from the basic, like removing the underlining from links, to the more complex, such as creating a dynamic visual menu.

Chapter 4, describes how to style the basic list items in various ways. Solutions include cross-browser indentation, making hanging indents, inserting custom images for list markers, and more.

Chapter 5, discusses ways to work around the basic ways browsers render forms. Solutions reviewed in this chapter include setting styles to specific form elements, setting a submit once-only button, and styling a login form.

Chapter 6, shows how to style HTML tables. While CSS can help eliminate HTML table-based designs, sometimes need to style tabular data such as calendars and statistical data. This chapter includes solutions for things such as setting cell padding, removing gaps in table cells with images, and styling a calendar.

Chapter 7, talks about how CSS can be used to engineer layouts. The solutions in this chapter include methods for hybrid (HTML tables and CSS) layouts, and one-column to multicolumn layouts.

Chapter 8, provides information on how to set styles that are used when printing web pages. Solutions discussed in this chapter include adding a separate print style sheet to a web page, setting styles for web forms, and inserting URLs after links.

Chapter 9, covers solutions on how to hide style sheets that cannot be handled by certain browsers. Recipes include hiding style sheets for browsers like Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer for Windows 5. Also included are tips on how to stop the CSS- related flicker effect in Internet Explorer for Windows 5 and how to keep background images fixed in Internet Explorer for Windows 6.

Chapter 10, is an inspirational chapter. Focusing on the notion that CSS is merely a tool that implements design, this chapter covers things like playing with enlarging type sizes, working with contrast, and building a panoramic presentation.

The Appendix A, is a collection of links and web sites covering items related to learning more about CSS.