by Peter Gasston
No Starch Press 2011
I was provided access by O'Reilly Publishing to an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Peter writes the book as if you already have experience using and understanding basic CSS concepts and HTML, so if you're looking for a book to teach you CSS then you'll want a different guide. If however, you want a book that shows you some of the features of CSS3 you're in the right place. Peter has been writing about CSS3 for over 5 years and in this book he covers some features of CSS3. Each chapter covers a new feature of CSS3, how to use it in clear and easy to understand code to follow, and which browsers currently support the feature. Some of the features covered include media queries--which is useful in designing websites for both full screen and mobile use; using gradients with color backgrounds; and 3D transformation, such as having an image rotate around an axis. The book is also accompanied by a website for future updates and an appendix with online resources to use, learn, and test CSS3.
I really like how this book is written and laid out. Peter does a good job of explaining in simple, easy to understand language what's going on with the feature being discussed and how to replicate the feature using the code provided in the examples. He walks through it step by step, explaining it in simple easy to understand language--no deciphering of incomprehensible technical speak here. While he can't highlight every feature, Peter has chosen the ones that are likely to be most useful at this time (and are the most developed/accepted), such as media queries for mobile use, the transitions and animations, gradients, etc. The appendixes are also helpful as one covers what features are supported by what browsers (even though this duplicates what's at the end of the chapters it's nice to have it one place) and an appendix on various web tools that help you generate code as well as test it.
Even though not all of the features can be used at the time, its still a useful book and a handy reference to have around. Highly recommend it.
No comments:
Post a Comment