Pro HTML5 and CSS3 Design Patterns

by Michael Bowers, Dionysios Synodinos, Victor Sumner

Pro HTML5 and CSS3 Design Patterns is a reference book and a cookbook on how to style web pages using CSS3 and HTML5. It contains 350 ready–to–use patterns (CSS3 and HTML5 code snippets) that you can copy and paste into your code. Each pattern can be combined with other patterns to create an unlimited number of solutions, and each pattern works reliably in all major browsers without the need for browser hacks. The book is completely up-to-date with code, best practices, and browser compatibilities for HTML5 and CSS3―enabling you to dive in and make use of these new technologies in production environments. Pro HTML5 and CSS3 Design Patterns is so much more than just a cookbook, though! It systematically covers every usable feature of CSS3 and combines these features with HTML5 to create reusable patterns. Each pattern has an intuitive name to make it easy to find, remember, and refer to. Accessibility and best practices are carefully engineered into each design pattern, example, and source code. The book’s layout, with a pattern’s example on the left page and its explanation on the right, makes it easy to find a pattern and study it without having to flip between pages. The book is also readable from cover to cover, with topics building carefully upon previous topics. Pro HTML5 and CSS3 Design Patterns book unleashes your productivity and creativity in web design and development. Instead of hacking your way toward a solution, you'll learn how to predictably create successful designs every time by reusing and combining modular design patterns.

Genres: Programming

558 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2011

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical books are usually not rated on entertainment value, and this book is no exception to that rule. Going through examples can be valuable, but can take a while.

Fortunately for the authors, this book has a lot of utility. There aren't a lot of books on design patterns for HTML & CSS, and this book has left me wondering why. (There should be.)

The authors have put together a book with 20 chapters full of design patterns that help you understand HTML & CSS, and how they work together to create the fundamentals of layout on the web.

I recommend the book, and if you buy it, do yourself two favors: buy a current edition (things have changed), and rewrite every design pattern's code for yourself and reproduce the screenshot given in the book. (For bonus points, use git along the way, and sharpen your day-to-day techniques.) You'll walk away with a much better understanding of both HTML & CSS.

While Pro HTML & CSS Design Patterns lacks a top down model to help you truly grok HTML and CSS, that's a common problem with all instruction in this area. (Another book opportunity.)

This isn't about entertainment. Do the work, and this book will pay you back.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

far better free resources than this