CSS: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual

Front Cover
"O'Reilly Media, Inc.", Aug 24, 2006 - Computers - 496 pages

Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled togetherchunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good,Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But CSSisn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling allkinds of presentation--from fonts and colors to page layout. CSS: The MissingManual clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it tobuild sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.

Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allowdesigners to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layoutinstructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity andthe many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authorstreat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites.Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratinglycomplicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped.With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigatethe ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages'appearance.



Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of O'Reilly's Dreamweaver: TheMissing Manual) combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, a dashof humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you ways to design sites withCSS that work consistently across browsers. You'll learn how to:



  • Create HTML that's simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, andworks well with CSS


  • Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders


  • Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars-completewith CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your Web pages


  • Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects likeCSS-based drop shadows


  • Make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML


  • Overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work consistentlyfrom browser to browser


  • Create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that don'trequire using old techniques like HTML tables


  • Style Web pages for printing


Unlike competing books, this Missing Manual doesn't assume that everyone in theworld only surfs the Web with Microsoft's Internet Explorer; our book providessupport for all major Web browsers and is one of the first books to thoroughlydocument the newly expanded CSS support in IE7, currently in beta release.



Want to learn how to turn humdrum Web sites into destinations that will captureviewers and keep them longer? Pick up CSS: The Missing Manual and learn thereal magic of this tool.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
Rethinking HTML for CSS
15
Creating Styles and Style Sheets
27
Identifying What to Style
43
Saving Time with Inheritance
71
The Cascade
81
Formatting Text
99
Margins Padding and Borders
133
Formatting Tables and Forms
251
Building FloatBased Layouts
277
Positioning Elements on a Web Page
325
CSS for the Printed Page
365
Improving Your CSS Habits
383
CSS Property Reference
405
CSS in Dreamweaver 8
433
CSS Resources
455

Adding Graphics to Web Pages
171
Sprucing Up Your Sites Navigation
209
Index
463

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Page 9 - In an effort to keep the book as up-to-date and accurate as possible, each time we print more copies of this book, we'll make any confirmed corrections you've suggested. We'll also note such changes on the Web site so that you can mark important corrections into your own copy of the book if you like.
Page xii - The Missing Manual Series Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don't come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific page numbers (not just "see Chapter 14...
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Page 9 - On your hard drive, you'll find a folder called System. Open that. Inside the System folder window is a folder called Library; double-click it to open it. Inside that folder is yet another one called Fonts. Double-click to open it, too.
Page 40 - Images</title> <style type=" text/ess"> p { background- image: url ( "gradient .gif" ); } <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
Page xii - Assignments have spanned everything from the nonprofit sector to corporate clientele. She lives in beautiful Southern Oregon, grateful for the miracles of modern technology that make living and working there a reality. Email: cassano@cdsnet.net Web: www.rosecassano.com.
Page 20 - Select the file you want to upload and check. Advanced options are available from the Extended File Upload Interface. Note: file upload may not work with Internet Explorer on some versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, see our information page on the W3C QA Website. Figure 1-1. The W3C Markup Validation Service...

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