Steven Mandel

The CSS3 Anthology by Rachel Andrews is subtitled instant CSS answers, how-to's, and examples. This subtitle clearly explains the goal of this book. The book consists of nine chapters. The first chapter is a quick review of CSS. The other chapters cover major topics such as text styling, image design elements, navigation, tabular data, forms and user interfaces, CSS positioning basics and CSS for layout. The topics in each chapter are laid out in the form of a question followed by one or more solutions and then a discussion explaining why that solution was offered. Here is an example of one of the questions: How do I remove the large gap between an h1 element and the following paragraph?

I really like this book because it's a practical problem solver for everyday issues you encounter when designing web pages. It is especially useful for people just getting started with web design.

I really like the style of this particular book because it really gets down to the nitty-gritty to provide practical solutions. The author is not afraid to express her opinion and provide valuable insights. The book is mostly independent of any discussion of HTML 5 except for a short section in which she shows how HTML 5 can enhance your forms and user interfaces. If you develop pages for more than one browser you are surely going to want to read the chapter on cross browser techniques.

I suggest that you go through every single chapter especially if you're new to CSS3 because it will give you a good foundation for CSS3 in developing your website and you will come back to this book again and again as a reference whenever you forget something you need to accomplish. I highly recommend this book not only as a starter book but as good companion when designing your website.