Cascading Style Sheets-The Designer s Edge

Molly E. Holzschlag

Associate Publisher:
Dan Brodnitz

Acquisitions and Developmental Editor:
Willem Knibbe

Production Editor:
Liz Burke

Technical Editor:
Eric A. Meyer

Copyeditor:
Sally Engelfried

Compositor:
Owen Wolfson

Graphic Illustrator:
Eric Houts

Proofreaders:
Nancy Riddiough
Emily Hsuan
Amey Garber

Indexer:
Ted Laux

Book Designer:
Mark Ong
Side By Side Studios

Cover Designer:
John Nedwidek
Emdesign

Cover Illustrator/Photographer:
John Nedwidek
Emdesign

Copyright © 2003 SYBEX Inc., 1151 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, CA 94501. World rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to photocopy, photograph, magnetic, or other record, without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Card Number: 2002115478

ISBN: 0-7821-4184-6

SYBEX and the SYBEX logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SYBEX Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications logo, Netscape, and Netscape Navigator are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation.

Netscape Communications Corporation has not authorized, sponsored, endorsed, or approved this publication and is not responsible for its content. Netscape and the Netscape Communications Corporate Logos are trademarks and trade names of Netscape Communications Corporation. All other product names and/or logos are trademarks of their respective owners.

Internet screen shot(s) using Microsoft Internet Explorer6.0 reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.

TRADEMARKS: SYBEX has attempted throughout this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer.

The author and publisher have made their best efforts to prepare this book, and the content is based upon final release software whenever possible. Portions of the manuscript may be based upon pre-release versions supplied by software manufacturer(s). The author and the publisher make no representation or warranties of any kind with regard to the completeness or accuracy of the contents herein and accept no liability of any kind including but not limited to performance, merchantability, fitness for any particular purpose, or any losses or damages of any kind caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly from this book.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Letter from the Publisher

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Cascading Style Sheets: The Designer's Edge. This book is part of a new wave of Sybex graphics books, all written by outstanding authors-artists and professional teachers who really know their stuff, and have a clear vision of the audience they're writing for.

At Sybex, we're committed to producing a full line of quality web and graphics books. With each title, we're working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the designers we work with, to the visual examples our authors provide, our goal is to bring you the best graphics and digital video books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I'd be very interested in hearing your feedback on how we're doing. To let us know what you think about this, or any other Sybex book, please visit us at www.sybex.com. Once there, go to the product page, click on Submit a Review, and fill out the questionnaire. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Daniel A. Brodnitz
Associate Publisher
Sybex Inc.

For Mary Inman with all my love

Acknowledgments

Writing CSS: The Designer's Edge has been a particularly good experience because of the people involved. I'd like to take a moment to praise them heartily here.

From Sybex, Willem Knibbe is an extremely flexible and insightful developmental editor, and there is no doubt that his guidance helped me greatly. Liz Burke kept all the details on track and made sure everything came together effectively. Special thanks to Dan Brodnitz for his assistance and support. Jordan Gold is truly golden, and for his years of ongoing interest in my work, I'm very grateful. Finally, a personal thanks to Sybex's main man, Dr. Rodnay Zaks who, along with Sybex in general, has helped provide me with some of the best projects and working relationships I've experienced.

From Waterside Productions, my literary agent David Fugate has been one of the true white knights, charging in to fix what needs fixing and talking me through the darker days.

From the markup and CSS community: Many thanks to all of my colleagues and peers within the community for being around to answer questions and solve problems: Porter Glendinning, Christopher Schmitt, Eric Costello, Owen Briggs, Rob Chandanais, Douglas Bowman, and all the denizens of the XHTML-L and CSS-Discuss lists. Thank you one and all for your ongoing passion for these important topics. Also, a note of thanks to Bryan Hillebrandt for stepping in and helping with some editorial issues.

Perhaps the most important acknowledgment here goes to my friend and colleague Eric A. Meyer, who technically edited this book and wrote the forward. Eric is considered the world's foremost authority on CSS. I am thrilled to have worked closely with him on a topic that he knows so deeply! Eric is by far one of the kindest technical editors I've worked with, too, never condescending when correcting foolish errors, always helpful at providing suggestions or additional resources to help me improve my own skills.

Continued love and appreciation to my mom, stepfather, and two brothers. This core family group, while being geographically separate from me, is the binding force of my life. Add to that my closest friends, Michael, Mary, Patty, and Claire, and I just realize how blessed I am.

Finally, to the readers of my books, visitors to my websites, and attendees at conference events, my most sincere love and appreciation. You are the constant inspiration. I only hope that through my work I will continue to serve you well.

About the Author

Coined 'one of the greatest digerati' and deemed one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women on the Web, there is little doubt that in the world of web design and development, Molly E. Holzschlag is one of the most vibrant and influential people around.

Currently serving as Education Director for the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW), she is working tirelessly to promote standards-based education and certification for webmasters worldwide.

With over 20 web development book titles to her credit, Molly is also a popular columnist and feature writer for such diverse publications as Macworld, PCMagazine, IBM developerWorks, and Builder.com. She is an engaging speaker and teacher, appearing regularly at a range of conferences including Comdex and Internet World.

As a steering committee member for the Web Standards Project (WaSP), Molly works along with a group of other dedicated web developers and designers to promote W3C recommendations. In more academic arenas, Molly teaches webmaster courses for the University of Arizona, University of Phoenix, and Pima Community College. She wrote the very popular column, 'Integrated Design,' for Web Techniques Magazine for the last three years of its life and spent a year as Executive Editor of WebReview.com.

For more information about Molly's books, articles, classes, and for a range of reference materials, visit www.molly.com/.

Visit the Companion Website for CSS: The Designer's Edge

The listings that you see throughout this book can be found on the Sybex website-just go to www.sybex.com. Navigate to the catalog page for the book, click the Download link, and follow the instructions that appear.

W W W. The 'www' icon indicates that the listing is available. You can use these listings to experiment with useful CSS effects and even plug them right into your pages.

The Sybex website is also the place to look for book updates and news. While you're there, please click the Submit a Review link on the book's page and let us know what you think of CSS: The Designer's Edge.