Reviews for CSS Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))

1. There are much better alternatives

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2006

   As a cookbook, it doesn't shine very much. The examples provided are averagely useful at best and it's not a "pure" CSS cookbook. Some examples include javascript and CSS is only indirectly related to them.
   When working with HTML/CSS I found the combination of CSS, The Definitive Guide and some quick googling much more productive than with this cookbook.
   The biggest advantage that I can see in it is that you can read the material offline and some trivial techniques are easily accessed. However It doesn't provide the recipes that we need for more complex designs by a long shot.
   The 3 stars are mostly for the clean structure of the book; a section about the problem exposes clearly what our goals are, and then the code is shown along with an explanation/discussion of the technique employed.
   It's not an essential resource about CSS, there are a lot more places where you can get better ideas for solutions to more complex (and useful) CSS problems, so I can't recommend it at all...

2. junk

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2006

   pointless cascading flatulence. myer's css book with o'reilly has everything you need, borrow it read it and then get o'reily's css pocket reference and google for some ideas if you havent got any of your own. this book is pointless as most of the o'reilly cookbooks are (asp.net excepted)

3. Not very useful

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, March 12nd, 2006

   The book is somewhere in my office but I don't know where.

   To me it sounded much too basic and not well sorted. I never manage to find the receipt for the problem I have in less than 3 minutes, which was why I bought the book for in the first place.

   It doesn't describe enough the tags you really want to be able to tweak. Not even default values or possible values. The only thing I've found it useful so far is to position an item in some pre-defined place on screen, and even then some online resources are much more helpful. I think the best future for my book is in the hands of some CSS complete newbie :-)

4. OK but I'm sure there's better out there

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2006

   Having bought the book, I've actually found I very rarely use it. It seems to be a little out of date in terms of the content and examples given when you look at what CSS can actually be used for.

   I was hoping for instant solutions to CSS problems as and when they crop up but found my problems very difficult to put in context with regards to this book.

   The W3C tutorials are more help, in fact the google and the www generally is more help than this book as a reference guide. Not really recommended.

5. Some very handy recipes ...

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12st, 2004

   This book is not for the CSS initiate as it does not provide a CSS reference, systematically describe CSS syntax, or tell you exactly how Cascading Style Sheets do cascade. However, if you already have some CSS knowledge, then this will be one of the most useful books you will buy if you want to design web sites.

   It provides a large number of recipes covering a wide range of CSS problems you are likely to need to solve at some time. The code examples can all downloaded from the O'Reilly web site as well as many of the images referenced in the book.

   Christopher Schmitt has organised this book beautifully, with each recipe presented in a 'Problem, Solution, Discussion, See Also' format. The problems are described concisely and clearly, as are the solutions. Schmitt then discusses the solutions in some detail, and the use of discussion sections is one of the best features of the book. The 'See Also' sections give valuable pointers to other books but principally to other web sites where more detailed information is available, in particular the relevant parts of the CSS 2.1 specification.

   As with every book, there are a few minor niggles, but these are insignificant compared to the benefit you will obtain. It provides what is says on the cover - quick solutions to common CSS problems - and more, as you will understand CSS much better after using this book.