CSS Help!

I stink at look-and-feel... and I hate that!

I have always been the developer "under the hood" fixing the engines, doing the "plumbing", talking to data.  I was never gifted with the art of web design, and it has been a curse I have been trying to lift for years.  Although the "creative" part of web design is something I may never come to terms with, I still want the ability to implement the technical aspect - especially as it relates to CSS. 

I am pleading with the web community to offer me resources on CSS that you have found invaluable.  Resources such as:

  • Books
  • Editors
  • Sites

Keep in mind, I have been using CSS for years - I just want to take it to the next level.  So I am not looking for "how to begin with CSS."  And I realize I can search Google all day, but I would love to get specific reasons as to why certain resources are the ones you "can't live without".  For example, is there a resource to assist with all the browser issues?  How about the common things to do and avoid?  Is there a tool that offers the easiest way to create CSS?

Please help!

[Web Designer Wannabe]

4 Comments

  • Great books:



    Eric Meyer on CSS

    Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman



    O'Reilly recently came out with a CSS Cookbook that you may like: very task-oriented: "Creating a Highlighted Text Effect", "Creating Collapsible Menus". "Building a Two-Column Layout with Fixed-Width Columns", etc. And this being CSS, it's nice to see an entire chapter on "Hacks and Workarounds".



    As far as tools go, I second TopStyle as a great resource, though I (and many other CSS-oriented folks I know) still end up hacking our CSS a lot in regular text/code editors (whatever's handy - whether notepad, Dreamweaver or VS.NET) when it comes time to get the finished page looking correct in multiple browsers.



    The remaining problem is, of course, not just knowing *how* to do it, but *what* to do - superb CSS skills still won't stop anyone putting 72pt lilac prose on a lime-green background - it's still gonna look awful, so you've still got all that pesky stuff about color, contrast, typography, layout... :)

  • "Core CSS" is a great over-kill book, I thought. Makes a good reference in terms of compatibility and such.

  • from a tool perspective...look at topstyle (www.bradsoft.com) -- built specifically for CSS and helps you with understanding a lot that you may not realize.

  • I like Dan Cederholm's stuff -- www.simplebits.com -- and his book "Web Standards Solutions"

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