CSS Hacks and Filters: Making Cascading Style Sheets Work

by Joseph W. Lowery

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a method of describing how a Web page should look in a Web browser, but a growing number of browsers do not support CSS in the same way, forcing developers to constantly play catch-up to keep their sites consistent Bestselling author Joe Lowery eases the pain for those Web developers who aren't feeling the CSS love-he guides readers through real-world workarounds that will help a CSS-based site look and work the way...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764579851
• ISBN13: 9780764579851
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Wiley Publishing
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Must Have for Web Developers

We thought we had all of the CSS books we needed on our office shelves. Then one day, we were browsing the shelves in Borders and came across this book. There's so much here that you just don't find in the dry basic reference books. It's taken our company's work to a whole new level. Back in 1999, we learned everything about CSS - we learned a lot about what 'could' be done, but was not yet browser compliant. Hence, we used what we could and shelved rest. This book opened our eyes to a lot of things we never learned in the 'official' books back in the day!

Great practical CSS guide

I have to concur with the other reviewers. This book is excellent for its practicallity. While other books concentrate on concepts, and design (all necessary aspects), this is the book to use if you are looking to actually put up a multi-browser compatible CSS based site. This book, together with a great design/concept book such as "Bulletproof Web Design" by Dan Cederholm would be a perfect set of books to both create and implement CSS.

Useful for intermediate Web designers

As Joseph Lowery states, "The CSS community enjoys a wealth of information. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of information can also be a detriment: finding the right fix often requires significant digging." Enter CSS Hacks and Filters: a book intended to save readers some time googling their CSS/cross-browser compatibility problems by compiling the most common solutions all in one location. For the beginner, it covers some of the basics, such as why use CSS at all, the notorious box model, the tan hack and the workarounds for floats. For the more advanced user, it covers some familiar ground, but goes into more detailed topics, including advanced layouts, navigation structures and using server-side solutions (ASP, PHP and ColdFusion) to control CSS. For Macromedia users, there are two chapters devoted to using CSS with Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Contribute 3. While now a version old with the release of Dreamweaver 8, most of the information is still relevant. Lowery also overviews a few topics that can be used in conjunction with CSS, including JavaScript. One that caught my eye in particular was the section on scalable flash replacement, which automatically generates flash headings to replace CSS-styled text for those users with Flash Player 6 or later. As with most of the topics covered in the book, he provides links to the original sources of the information on the Web to supplement the explanations provided in the book. In such a recent book, I was surprised to find an entire chapter devoted to hacking Netscape 4 (with a section concerning IE 3 and 4), considering that the only thought most designers give to Netscape 4 nowadays is pitying the poor fools still stuck using 9-year-old software. While probably not the best book for the absolute beginner with no CSS experience or the very advanced Web developer for whom these hacks have become second nature, it's a useful resource for those of us in the middle... particularly for those who prefer checking an index in the back of a book as opposed to sifting through a few thousand Google hits.

You-GOTTA-get-this-one!!!

I already have at least 5 very good books on CSS, but this one really takes the cake! It's probably THE most important CSS book I own. It's got more nitty-gritty info than any other...things like differences between browser versions & how to work around them... Or why we can't write off NetScape4 (yet)....it's still out there like herpes. I also like his style of writing....short concise paragraphs and sentences with a wry sense of humor. He's "been there, done that". Very readable.....even the intro. I've only recently bit the bullet & started to concentrate on learning to use CSS for layout, navigation, etc... not just for text styling. This book gives me confidence I'm going to succeed. Thanks,Joe, from all of us! Cal McGaugh

Great book - But beware of CSS positioning

I'm working on my first "Pure" CSS site. It's very frustrating to work for hours to get a page laid out correctly in one browser and then open it in another and see your layout mangled. Thus, the purpose of this book. While I'm thankful for the hacks/filters discovered and for Mr. Lowery's collection, the need for such a book demonstrates the poor state of CSS implementation in today's browsers. Still, CSS is a very useful technology. You need this information for CSS issues. This book is a must. Buy it!