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Book Recommendations!

polycounter lvl 19
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adam polycounter lvl 19
Hello!

I am looking to learn some CSS so I can work on the site, and build fun portfolios, etc. etc. etc.

Does anyone have insight in to some books for beginners? I literally know nothing of it, other than its basic principle and would like to

Christmas is coming up and I'd like to get some new books!

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  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    Sorry, I learned everything I know on the job. I couldn't recommend any specific books. If you have any questions though, feel free to ask.

    Here's a free tip on how every default.css file should start...

    body {margin:0px;}

    Removing all margins from the base page element is always a good idea for css files. It helps you to start with a blank slate, and can help to solve cross-browser bugs that might show up later. Nipping it in the bud, if you will. One of the most common cross-browser bugs when using CSS is how different browsers render margins and padding. Margins and padding can be very useful for relative elements, but you have to always be sure to test them extensively.
  • stimpack
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    stimpack polycounter lvl 10
    I dont know about books. But if your looking to do up a website easily. Give sitegrinder a shot. Its a addon to photoshop. Basically it functions off your naming things a certain way in the layers. Then generates code for you.
  • jerry
    You should be able to learn it from here: http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp . CSS is very simple and there's not very much of it so you should be able to make it work pretty fast. However i do recommend you find some tutorials on html structuring, where to place you <div> tags etc. You can probably find that on the same site though.

    GL
  • rolfness
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    rolfness polycounter lvl 18
    screw all that CSS bullshit read this

    TOMAS
    http://www.tomas-book.com/
  • whipSwitch
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    whipSwitch polycounter lvl 8
    I would agree with jerry, the w3c schools tend to be great reference for many a web design topic.
  • bruceape
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    bruceape polycounter lvl 13
    I concur with the w3c schools suggestion!

    I learned a lot of what I know from [ame="http://www.amazon.com/HTML-XHTML-Sixth-Elizabeth-Castro/dp/0321430840"]HTML, xTHML, and CSS Visual Quickstart Guide[/ame] and supplemented the knowledge with blogs like [ame="smashingmagazine.com"]Smashing Magazine[/ame]. That might be something you'd want to look into too.
  • Frump
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    Frump polycounter lvl 12
    Aside from the book learnin', I would also recommend getting a program like Dreamweaver which brings up a list of all the style tags when you start typing. That way you can get started working with CSS without memorizing them or flipping back and forth constantly with the reference.

    I also have to give another recommendation to WC3 schools. I learned pretty much all of my basic knowledge from there. It's thorough and easy to follow along with.

    Good luck:)
  • toren3d
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    toren3d polycounter lvl 7
    Check out "The CSS Anthology" (2nd edition) by Rachel Andrews

    There are more books from this same publisher, which delve more into specific CSS/web design topics.

    They will help you visually learn the process in a more fun way (w3schools is quite bland, its great for reference later, but harsher to learn from initially).

    Hope that helps!
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