Web Standards Solutions - A Good Book

[AndrewSage]

Recently I decided it was time I looked at all this new fangled web stuff like XHTML and CSS instead of using the same stuff as I have used for the last 10+ years.

Whilst getting a van load of books from Amazon, I stumbled upon Web Standards Solutions : The Markup and Style Handbook by Dan Cederholm.

After reading the book for about an hour or so away from the computer (proof that computer related books still have their place) I decided to have a go at using what I had learned from the book (the result can be seen at www.asae.co.uk/.)

The book is split into two sections, the first about markup (XHTML) and the second about style (CSS).

Each chapter covers a single topic (such as Lists, Headings or CSS Layout). The chapter first deals with the basics of this is the choices you have, this is the best choice and why. It then goes on to build up an extra example of how to do the fancy things with what was covered.

With this book it is possible to just pick it up, quickly read over the example code and use it with out any real effort.

The only downside to the book is that some of the padding waffle is a bit patronising, or maybe that is just me?

[Carlos Camacho]

Seems like there was a problem with your site's URL -- I fixed it. I've heard lots of good things about that book. A nice site to download 'free' CSS-bases templates is here: http://oswd.org
Many are ugly but there are a few gems. Looking at the code can be a good lanching pad for your own CSS-based designs. For inspiration, I like to look at: http://www.csszengarden.com/

Cheers,

[AndrewSage]

Funny you should mention the CSS Zen Garden as I also bought the book The Zen of CSS Design which is based on the content the website. I've only flicked through it so far so I cannot give any thoughts on it yet.

Thanks for fixing the link. I see that it now as an extra / at the end which is strange as it worked when I posted it.