Web Design Books

Web designers loved Eric Meyer on CSS, which proved that a book could be both technically competent (it explained Cascading Style Sheets clearly) and aesthetically astute (printed in color, the book showed off Meyer's work brilliantly). More Eric Meyer on CSS picks up where the original book ended, going into detail on a score of important Web-design tasks. As he did with his first book, Meyer has had this one laid out in a broad-page format, with many illustrations, and printed in full color. The net effect is that readers see the design effects of the CSS tweaks under discussion, and there's no need to imagine (or load code) to see how colors and shadings look when rendered in a browser. Appealingly, this book is oriented around typical design projects (such as annual financial reports, weblogs, and personal homepages) and widely used design features (including menus and index tabs). This structure ensures the utility of Meyer's book--you can just turn to the chapter that deals with whatever you're trying to build, and see what the author did in a similar situation. Each section involves far more prose than code; Meyer is very careful to spend more time explaining what he's doing than he spends actually doing it, and the reader is never overwhelmed by giant CSS listings. Numerous screen shots intersperse the code and commentary, allowing you to see the intermediate results of style sheets in progress and adapt Meyer's beginnings in order to achieve different ends.--David Wall