CSS: The Missing Manual

by David McFarland

Overview

CSS lets you create professional-looking websites, but learning its finer points can be tricky—even for seasoned web developers. This fully updated edition provides the most modern and effective tips, tricks, and tutorial-based instruction on CSS available today. Learn how to use new tools such as Flexbox and Sass to build web pages that look great and run fast on any desktop or mobile device. Ideal for casual and experienced designers alike.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Start with the basics. Write CSS-friendly HTML, including the HTML5 tags recognized by today’s browsers.
• Design for mobile devices. Create web pages that look great when visitors use them on the go.
• Make your pages work for you. Add animations that capture the imagination, and forms that get the job done.
• Take control of page layouts. Use professional design techniques such as floats and positioning.
• Make your layouts more flexible. Design websites with Flexbox that adjust to different devices and screen sizes.
• Work more efficiently. Write less CSS code and work with smaller files, using Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets (Sass).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491918050
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/28/2015
Pages:	715
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

David Sawyer McFarland, president of Sawyer McFarland Media, has been building and managing websites since 1995. He is also a writer and trainer, and teaches in the Portland State Universitymultimedia program. He wrote the bestselling Missing Manual titles on Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS, and JavaScript.

Table of Contents

The Missing Credits; About the Author; About the Creative Team; Acknowledgments; The Missing Manual Series; Introduction; What Is CSS?; What You Need to Know; HTML: The Barebones Structure; Document Types; How HTML Tags Work; HTML5: More Tags to Choose From; Software for CSS; About This Book; The Very Basics; About the Online Resources; Safari® Books Online; Part 1: CSS Basics; Chapter 1: HTML and CSS; 1.1 HTML: Past and Present; 1.2 Writing HTML for CSS; 1.3 The Importance of the Doctype; 1.4 How CSS Works; Chapter 2: Creating Styles and Style Sheets; 2.1 Anatomy of a Style; 2.2 Understanding Style Sheets; 2.3 Internal Style Sheets; 2.4 External Style Sheets; 2.5 Tutorial: Creating Your First Styles; Chapter 3: Selectors: Identifying What to Style; 3.1 Type Selectors: Styling HTML Tags; 3.2 Class Selectors: Pinpoint Control; 3.3 ID Selectors: Specific Page Elements; 3.4 Styling Groups of Tags; 3.5 Styling Tags Within Tags; 3.6 Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements; 3.7 Attribute Selectors; 3.8 Child Selectors; 3.9 Siblings; 3.10 The :target Selector; 3.11 The :not() Selector; 3.12 Tutorial: Selector Sampler; Chapter 4: Saving Time with Style Inheritance; 4.1 What Is Inheritance?; 4.2 How Inheritance Streamlines Style Sheets; 4.3 The Limits of Inheritance; 4.4 Tutorial: Inheritance; Chapter 5: Managing Multiple Styles: The Cascade; 5.1 How Styles Cascade; 5.2 Specificity: Which Style Wins; 5.3 Controlling the Cascade; 5.4 Tutorial: The Cascade in Action; Part 2: Applied CSS; Chapter 6: Formatting Text; 6.1 Using Fonts; 6.2 Using Web Fonts; 6.3 Discovering Google Web Fonts; 6.4 Adding Color to Text; 6.5 Changing Font Size; 6.6 Formatting Words and Letters; 6.7 Adding Text Shadow; 6.8 Formatting Entire Paragraphs; 6.9 Styling Lists; 6.10 Tutorial: Text Formatting in Action; Chapter 7: Margins, Padding, and Borders; 7.1 Understanding the Box Model; 7.2 Controlling Space with Margins and Padding; 7.3 Adding Borders; 7.4 Coloring the Background; 7.5 Creating Rounded Corners; 7.6 Adding Drop Shadows; 7.7 Determining Height and Width; 7.8 Wrapping Content with Floating Elements; 7.9 Tutorial: Margins, Backgrounds, and Borders; Chapter 8: Adding Graphics to Web Pages; 8.1 Discovering CSS and the Tag; 8.2 Adding Background Images; 8.3 Controlling Repetition; 8.4 Positioning a Background Image; 8.5 Using Background Property Shorthand; 8.6 Using Multiple Background Images; 8.7 Utilizing Gradient Backgrounds; 8.8 Tutorial: Enhancing Images; 8.9 Tutorial: Creating a Photo Gallery; 8.10 Tutorial: Using Background Images; Chapter 9: Sprucing Up Your Site’s Navigation; 9.1 Selecting Which Links to Style; 9.2 Styling Links; 9.3 Building Navigation Bars; 9.4 CSS-Style Preloading Rollovers; 9.5 Styling Particular Types of Links; 9.6 Tutorial: Styling Links; 9.7 Tutorial: Creating a Navigation Bar; Chapter 10: CSS Transforms, Transitions, and Animations; 10.1 Transforms; 10.2 Transitions; 10.3 Animations; 10.4 Tutorial; Chapter 11: Formatting Tables and Forms; 11.1 Using Tables the Right Way; 11.2 Styling Tables; 11.3 Styling Forms; 11.4 Tutorial: Styling a Table; 11.5 Tutorial: Styling a Form; Part 3: CSS Page Layout; Chapter 12: Introducing CSS Layout; 12.1 Types of Web Page Layouts; 12.2 How CSS Layout Works; 12.3 Layout Strategies; Chapter 13: Building Float-Based Layouts; 13.1 Applying Floats to Your Layouts; 13.2 Overcoming Float Problems; 13.3 Tutorial: Multiple-Column Layouts; Chapter 14: Positioning Elements on a Web Page; 14.1 How Positioning Properties Work; 14.2 Powerful Positioning Strategies; 14.3 Tutorial: Positioning Page Elements; Chapter 15: Responsive Web Design; 15.1 Responsive Web Design Basics; 15.2 Setting Up a Web Page for RWD; 15.3 Media Queries; 15.4 Flexible Grids; 15.5 Fluid Images; 15.6 Responsive Web Design Tutorial; Chapter 16: Using a CSS Grid System; 16.1 How Grids Work; 16.2 Structuring Your HTML for Grids; 16.3 Using the Skeleton Grid System; 16.4 Creating and Naming Columns; 16.5 Tutorial: Using a Grid System; Chapter 17: Modern Web Layout with Flexbox; 17.1 Introducing Flexbox; 17.2 Flex Container Properties; 17.3 Flex Item Properties; 17.4 Tutorial: Build a Flexbox Layout; Part 4: Advanced CSS; Chapter 18: Improving Your CSS Habits; 18.1 Adding Comments; 18.2 Organizing Styles; 18.3 Eliminating Browser Style Interference; 18.4 Using Descendant Selectors; Chapter 19: More Powerful Styling with Sass; 19.1 What is Sass?; 19.2 Installing Sass; 19.3 Sass Basics; 19.4 Organizing Your Styles with Sass Partials; 19.5 Sass Variables; 19.6 Nesting Selectors; 19.7 Inheriting (or Extending) Properties; 19.8 Mixins; 19.9 Working with Media Queries; 19.10 Troubleshooting with CSS Source Maps; Part 5: Appendixes; CSS Property Reference; CSS Values; Text Properties; List Properties; Padding, Borders, and Margins; Backgrounds; Page Layout Properties; Animation, Transform and Transition Properties; Table Properties; Miscellaneous Properties; CSS Resources; References; CSS Help; CSS Tips, Tricks, and Advice; CSS Navigation; CSS Layout; Showcase Sites;