Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design / Bulletproof Essentials

by Dan Cederholm, Ethan Marcotte

There’s a real connection between craftsmanship and Web design. That’s the theme running through Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design , by bestselling author Dan Cederholm, with a chapter contributed by renowned Web designer and developer Ethan Marcotte. This book explores CSS3 that works in today’s browsers, and you’ll be convinced that now’s the time to start experimenting with it.

Whether you’re a Web designer, project manager, or a graphic designer wanting to learn more about the fluidity that’s required when designing for the Web, you’ll discover the tools to create the most flexible, reliable, and bulletproof Web designs. And you’ll finally be able to persuade your clients to adopt innovative and effective techniques that make everyone’s life easier while improving the end user’s experience. This book’s seven chapters deconstruct various aspects of a case-study Web site for the Tugboat Coffee Company, focusing on aspects that make it bulletproof and demonstrate progressive enrichment techniques over more traditional labor-intensive methods.

Subjects covered in this book include:
The video included with this special edition features author Dan Cederholm as he illustrates 10 essential Web design guidelines. Enhancing the content in this book, the Handcrafted CSS: Bulletproof Essentials DVD will arm you with a checklist to make your next project a flexible, adaptable, and wellcrafted design.

Genres: Website Design, Design, Programming, Nonfiction, Technology, Web, Computer Science

217 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2009

About the author

A designer, author, speaker, husband and father living in Salem, Massachusetts. Dan is the Founder and Principal of SimpleBits, LLC, a tiny web design studio.

A recognized expert in the field of standards-based web design, Dan has worked with YouTube, Microsoft, Google, MTV, ESPN, Electronic Arts, Blogger, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, and others. With each new project, comes an opportunity to minimize markup and embrace the flexibility of CSS.

Dan is co-founder and designer of Dribbble, a vibrant community for sharing screenshots of your work. Previously, he co-founded and designed Cork’d, the first social network for wine aficionados which was later acquired by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Reviews

[Kahlil Lechelt]

Fucking awesome.

[PD Storage]

شركة تصميم مواقع
شركة تصميم مواقع الكترونية
تصميم مواقع الكترونية
شركة تصميم مواقع ويب

[Chad]

In this visual book, Dan Cedarholm and Ethan Marcotte demonstrate 3 principles of “handcrafted CSS” through several specific examples. The examples feature border-radius, RGBA, modular floats, fluid grids, typography, and jQuery. The examples won’t age well, but the concepts certainly will.

I liked the advice that one should be an “80 percenter”, focusing on the details that matter rather than obsessing over complex solutions. I read this book because it was listed in .net Magazine's The top 25 books for web designers and developers.

Aspects of handcrafted CSS
• bulletproof design: designing with flexibility and adaptability
• progressive enrichment: rewarding advanced browsers while allowing others to degrade acceptably
• reevaluation of past methods and best practices: finding easier, more efficient ways to solve problems

Notes
• Opacity affects the transparency of the element and anything contained in it. RGBA affects only the transparency of the element’s background or color.
• Check your site's stats and design for the browsers your users use.
• Find free fonts at Jos Buivenga's exljbris Font Foundry.

target / context = result
• target font size in px / font size of container in px = desired font size in ems
• can also be used to calculate em or percentage based widths

[Leland]

After teaching web development for over a decade, my bookshelves are literally clogged with books on the subject. Most are out of date before the ink in them dries and are completely uninspiring. This book is quite direct, well written, and rather than making promises like, "you'll be a CSS superhero by page 100", it takes a more instructive, thought-provoking approach. Cederholm explains in great detail how things work, and makes some important points about the changing nature of browser technology to get the reader to think about how they can create sites that work and look good on all platforms. Good code based, standards compliant (for the most part) design is cleaner, more reliable, and longer lasting. The dark days of endless layout tables and transparent .gif spacers are gone. CSS is the way, and this is a very good book on the art and craft. I recommend this book highly. Not a book for the absolute beginner, but a very good book for someone with the fundamentals down looking to push their skills.

[Caitlin (Ayashi)]

Handcrafted CSS is a really solid addition to any front end dev's collection. If you want to keep up to date on the wonderful world of CSS (and CSS3) it is definitely worth picking up. While the first few chapters were basically review for me, there was some great chapters toward the end that were pretty new to me.

Well written, lots of code examples, and links online that you can visit if you have your computer handy and want to copy and paste some JavaScript and don't want to write out word for word something you saw in the book.

Chapters 6 and 7 were probably the best - fluid layouts and notes on how you can add some little details to really help polish off the site.

[Michael]

Excellent read! While I mostly work on our app's backend, I have a lot of respect for the people who make it look pretty. Reading this book gave me a whole new appreciation for the details they have to keep in mind and was a good reminder why I don't really do that sort of work.

The text is well written, has lots of helpful illustrations and often shows alternative ways to achieve the desired result. Of course browser compatibility gets tackled too, and the author recommends a comparatively low maintenance "progressive enrichment" approach. This really was written by a craftsman who takes his trade seriously and that shows!

[Pandalion]

An excellent book on the craftsmanship that is CSS. Great examples of ways we can use the latest CSS properties, as well as making sure our sites still work and look great on all browsers. A wonderful chapter on fluid design from Ethan Marcotte means that this book will get you thinking about creating dynamic designs that aren't dependant on fixed widths and browser capabilities. Easy-to-read, beautifully presented, with a writing style that will make you giggle at times, this book will inspire you to go and experiment and create beautiful CSS.

[Milky Cosmos]

Didn't really help me with styling websites.

I couldn't give a crap about some pretentiously complex website in the examples.

It didn't even explain the classes of the lists in the css, I want to learn not guess what's going on.
To much ood dependence and lack of direction and not enough functional real advice for an aspiring designer.

A lot the code really spun me out in tug boat. That's why I'm pretty much giving up on IT.

[Guilherme]

Another excellent book on CSS by Dan Cederholm and Ethan Marcotte. This is the book I was looking for: no basics, just great up-to-date techniques for styling websites with CSS. Very easy to read and to the point, just the way I like it. You'll read this in a short while and then get right back to work, applying its techniques.

If you work daily with CSS coding and want to update yourself to recent techniques and best practices, this book is for you.

[Esteban Mulki]

Muy buen libro que proporciona un marco general para entender el concepto de mejora progresiva en la programación front-end.

El origen del "Responsive Web Design" de Ethan Marcotte está en el capítulo de Grillas Fluidas que aporta en este libro. Sí lo leíste (muy recomendable) podés saltearlo acá tranquilamente.

Si bien el libro tiene una rápida vejez (inevitable cuando se desarrollan técnicas en lugar de conceptos) no deja de ser una buena presentación práctica del tema.

[Davidkjelkerud]

Another quick read by A Book Apart. Very hands on. Added a few valuable tricks to my css toolbox. Good reference with lots of resources to dive deeper into specific topics. Basically the book has one main point Don't let incompatibility stop you from of using css3 properties available today. Experience doesn't have to be identical cross-browser.

[Conor Muirhead]

Beautiful book. Nothing too earth-shattering, but it's a good reference to have for all your CSS 3 needs.

[Jason Cale]

Great reaffirmation of knowledge, and picked up a few tips I've used already.

[Chelsea Otakan]

A good reference for people more experienced with CSS, but this is mostly a book aimed at beginners or beginner-intermediates who are just learning best practices.

[Amy]

So great! Haven't watched the DVD yet... Anyone interested in a Dan Cederholm movie night?

[Jennifer]

Great CSS book which will also serve as a great reference. This is a must have for every web designer's bookshelf.

[Mmdms]

booked out by Jye 12/10/2010

[Dan Oersnes]

I am working with team members who use CSS. Read this book to get a "beginners" understanding on "how-to"...

[Joselito Surdilla]

Good content, but too much fluff; could have been re-written in less than half as many words.

[paul redman]

Keeps your interest and flows easily between each chapter. Once I finished this book I felt confident to start experimenting with CSS 3. Most definitely worth the investment.

[Keith]

The writing style is easy to follow; Many examples are useful and practical. I never find a book about CSS3 so easy to read and learn.

[Aron]

A light introduction to some of the common visual CSS3 properties like box shadow and transforms but gives good advice on when to use them.

[Annukka]

One of the best I've read.

[Tiago Dias]

Excellent in address the most useful features in CSS3.

[Leonard Houx]

Not too advanced, but still a helpful, quick read -- especially on liquid layouts.

[Ion Prodan]

Outdated book ))