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The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web First Edition

by Dave Shea (Author), Molly E. Holzschlag (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 137 ratings
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Illustrates the range and potential of Web sites afforded by CSS-based Web design, from striking a sensible balance between text and graphics to creating eye-popping special effects, with a look at layout, imagery, typography, effects, and themes. Original. (Intermediate)
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780321303479
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0321303479
  3. Edition
    First Edition
  4. Publisher
    Peachpit Pr
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2005
  6. Part of series
    Voices That Matter
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    8.25 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  9. Print length
    296 pages
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Molly E. Holzschlag teaches Webmaster courses for the University of Arizona, the University of Phoenix, and Pima Community College.

Dave Shea is the creator and cultivator of the highly influential CSS Zen Garden Web site (www.csszengarden.com). As well as being a member of the Web Standards Project, Dave is the owner and director of Bright Creative, and he writes about all things Web for his daily weblog, mezzoblue.com. With over 6 years of experience working on the Web, Dave is a leader of the new generation of Web designers that believe in responsible Web design.

An author, instructor, and Web designer, Molly E. Holzschlag has written over 27 books related to Web design and development. She's been coined "one of the greatest digerati" and deemed one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women on the Web. There is little doubt that in the world of Web design and development, Molly is one of the most fun and vibrant Web characters around. As a steering committee member for the Web Standards Project (WaSP), Molly works along with a group of other dedicated Web developers and designers to promote W3C recommendations. For more about Molly, check out www.molly.com.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0321303474
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peachpit Pr; First Edition (January 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780321303479
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0321303479
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.79 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.25 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 137 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
137 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gordon
5.0 out of 5 stars Well laid out book...a REAL design / CSS Resource
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2005
Verified Purchase
I have always admired Dave Shea's CSS work and the Zen Garden site but this book truly delivers. Beyond the incredible examples of CSS work by so many talented people, Dave and Molly have assembled a resource book for a wide audience. The layout of the book in terms of chapters, examples etc is outstanding. The examples of CSS code are short and to the point with easy to understand explanations. Prior to buying the book, I thought it might focus solely on the technical side of CSS. This isn't the case as one gets to read about why some of these designs/layouts work. This is one of those books that you read for 2 hrs, come back the next day and read again and again. It's not a 2 hr read and then sits on a shelf for the next year. My copy will get well used. Lastly, after designing commercial websites for over 15 years, and 2 years of accessible, web standards design, I can honestly say this book is in my top 3 books that I own and USE. Nice job Dave and Molly, I HIGHLY recommend this book to designers, css junkies. A MUST READ!
11 people found this helpful
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Mary Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile read
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2005
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This is much more than an ordinary book. I hate reading programming or web books, yet I loved this book.

I am a web developer with a programming background, more interested in usability than looks. I had traditionally used CSS for fonts and that's all. Recently I started exploring the true power of CSS and becoming more interested in color and imagery.

Then I stumbled on the CSS Zen Garden book and web site. Together, they opened my eyes to web design as an art. It taught me principles of light, color, fonts, and layout with CSS. It helped me realize that I can have awesome web sites! I have gone on to learn Photoshop and explore my own eye for good design. Armed with new knowledge, I look forward to working on my own design for the Zen Garden.
11 people found this helpful
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Tony Olsson
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book. Thanks alot.
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2022
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I have read the site from i begin with Webdevelopment and
The One And Only places for inpiration about CSS..
Thanks for this book.
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Craig Cecil
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book that could have been great
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2005
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Since I'm a frequent visitor to the excellent CSS Zen Garden web site, I purchased this book hoping that it would enlighten me regarding the technical implementation of some of the more advanced CSS designs. Unfortunately, I think the book just misses the mark. What you get is a brief six page explanation of a particular design concept for each of the 36 included designs. This is all good, but I was hoping to see at least a few of the very advanced designs completely dissected in explanation, from beginning of the source to the end. Intermediate CSS coders will undoubtedly pick up a useful technique or two. Still, it's a good book that could have been great.
13 people found this helpful
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Hedley Finger
5.0 out of 5 stars For the beginner to aspire to
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2008
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I bought this book understanding that it would help me learn CSS design, but soon found that it was not for the beginner but for an experienced CSS practitioner. The book is divided into themes such as 'Layout', 'Typography', etc. and illustrates the points being made by references to examples on the web site.

You can browse to the relevant pages and read the CSS code to understand how effects were made. As such the book is an inspiration for beginners to aim for after they have had some experience with CSS, perhaps by going to the original inventors, Lie and Bos:  Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web (3rd Edition) .
One person found this helpful
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Dennis Yeung
5.0 out of 5 stars Great CSS insight for novices, ameatures, and intermediates.
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2010
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Hi, I'm a sophomore who bought this book to help me with my MYP/IB Personal Project (which was to create a website), and it was a GREAT resource! Reading it isn't like reading boring, detailed and dull instructions but more like clear, great, well written and easily comprehensible insight. Shea and Holzschlag has also included snippets of clean CSS that really helps you understand what the ideas are.

I borrowed this book from the library three times before I finally said "screw it", this book has been the most valuable and well-written CSS book I've read to me. I actually learn things and go "OHHHHHHHH" reading this book. I know I will never regret buying this book.
3 people found this helpful
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Kathy
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2005
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[...] I already knew this would be a design book and not a CSS guide.

The problem is that both the book and the site are misleading. These are essentially home pages by graphic designers. However as a practical matter, none of these designs would work site-wide - rather the point of a style sheet, after all. There's simply not enough screen 'real estate' to accommodate content in subsequent pages. In addition, the designs are such that tooling them to 'brand' across sub-pages sitewide would be very difficult, and the book provides no examples, guidelines, or suggestions for doing so.

For inspiration, to see what you can do with color and layout, and for finding your own unique vision, this book may be useful. For designing sites of more than one page, however, this book falls short.
13 people found this helpful
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Mark L. Howell
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book!
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2009
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As a dabbler in HTML for the last ten years, I have heard about CSS and it's many benefits, but had no hands-on experience with it. When I discovered the Zen of CSS site, I knew I had to get the book. It is a beautiful book, both physically and content-wise. There is a lot of effort put into this book and it shows. It melds the technical with the artistic in simple prose. I have learned much already, and would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to ride the wave of CSS in this exciting time of web design! Two thumbs up! - Mark Howell, Round Rock, Texas.
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Top reviews from other countries

Aaron
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book!
Reviewed in Canada on July 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
Awesome book. HTML and CSS are pretty easy to figure out. The challenge is design. That's what this book really helps you with.
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Andrew Battye
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2007
Verified Purchase
If you thought standard-compliant CSS web pages had to be boxy and bland, this book will show you how wrong you were. The book simply shows many designs for the same web page and then talks you through the logic behind the CSS techniques used in the design. It is a great source of inspiration. What the book is not is a CSS reference book - try the O'Reilly series for one of these. What this book is, however, is a demonstration of what can be acheived with a modicum of CSS skills and a lot of artistic talent.
One person found this helpful
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Kaz 52
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
Bought as a Xmas gift
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Giovanni C
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in Canada on January 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
Not really a technical book for a person who wants to learn CSS
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B. Eaton
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile reading for web developers and non-web designers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2005
Verified Purchase
This book is not a CSS tutorial, rather a sales pitch and guide for 'correct' use of the technology. It uses the csszengarden.com website as a case study for explaining how to make innovative use of CSS by explaining the structure, then the thinking behind the various designs submitted to the site. So it's actually more of a guide to design - but one that I would recommend that web developers read.
I say this as a (sometime) ASP/ASP.NET/PHP developer, who up until this point, "doesn't do design". I saw it as an inconvenience in the creation of otherwise technically brilliant (modesty eh!) web applications. Yet the whole css zen garden concept could actually make the life of web developers a lot easier.
Developers could eschew design altogether while creating web pages/forms that offer true flexibility for real designers. But the beauty of this book is that it actually gives hints, tips, and pointers, that in the absence of a designer in teams of programmers, could help make web developers into half decent designers.
This is more of an interest book that will hopefully change the attitude of the new breed of unwilling web designers that the .NET framework has created. It may also help designers that aren't currently working with new media to bring their talents to the web in a way that doesn't involve using Macromedia Flash.
It's not perfect but it will open your eyes.
22 people found this helpful
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