Technogeekery

[taimatsu]

I am writing my new webpage. I have struggled a bit with using Amaya for editing, as it is just slightly less idiot-friendly than I need it to be. I have resorted to using Notepad to edit bits of my code, and it seems to work. I am teaching myself CSS and am amazed by the wondrous things I can do with it. Hover-colour links! background colour beige! *bounce*

So, I need more info. Can you recommend a good online tutorial or useful website reference for someone learning CSS (I understand and can write good basic HTML)? Do I need to buy a book on this, and if so, which one? Are there any obvious problems with using CSS, or pitfalls to look out for, particularly in the areas of browser compatibility and disability-accessibleness?

You know where the comment link is...

Comments

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

The web should be enough for learning CSS. Once you understand the concept there should be no need for a book.

[diffrentcolours]

I found the CSS tutorials at Webmonkey to be good, but really nothing beats trying things yourself (in a variety of browsers) and playing with the w3 XHTML validator and w3 CSS validator.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I'd second the Webmonkey suggestion. They're quite good in general for getting to grips with basic web technologies.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Are there obvious problems with using CSS, or pitfalls to look out for, particularly in the areas of browser compatibility and disability-accessibleness?

Quick answer: Yes, LOTS.

I tend to go to the W3C (http://www.w3c.org/) as a starting point for questions like this -- they have a page on learning CSS (http://www.w3c.org/Style/CSS/learning) which has lots of book recommendations (as well as demonstrating the use of CSS quite nicely by example: check out the list of available styles for that page!) and lots and lots about accessibility guidelines.

The Web Design Group (http://www.htmlhelp.com/) has a lot of helpful resources, and their CSS page (http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/) might be useful. (They also have quick reference guides to CSS properties, HTML elements, entities, etc. -- very useful, I use 'em all the time!)

Afraid I have no personal book recommendations though because most of what I've learned has been from courses & from other people, and from wandering around the web...

[karen2205]

Also have a look at:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ - though be aware that it's no longer recommended that you programme accesskeys because it's likely your programming will conflict with user defined keys.
http://www.accessifyforum.com/ - lots of info on accessibility and
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp - an accessibility validator.

The newsgroup comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html has a fair level of cluefulness.

If you've not already discovered this you may wish to be aware that CSS2 is not fully supported by IE.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

w3schools.com has handy references for CSS and lots of other webgoodies...

[ixwin.livejournal.com]

Yep, w3schools is my main reference for CSS as well.

[chrisvenus]

thirded or something. w3schools is great for loads of stuff.

[mattmachell.livejournal.com]

Book wise, CSS: Seperating Content From Presentation (http://www.friendsofed.com/books/159059231x/) is a good tome (though I'm biased, I worked for the company that produced it). Zeldman's (http://www.zeldman.com) Designing With Web Standards is pretty nifty too. Eric Meyer on CSS has a good rep too. A good book will serve you better than some of the web tutorials you'll find.

Website wise, alistapart (http://www.alistapart.com) is worth alook for high-end stuff. W3schools, as mentioned above is good for low end. evolt (http://www.evolt.org) is good for middle to high end stuff.

Things to look out for are mainly bad support for standards in old but still used browsers: box model problems in older versions of Internet Explorer are the most common, differences in how Mozilla and IE handle floated elements is a pain too. As long as you don't require pixel-perfection cross-browser, you shouldn't need to worry too much.

Learning how to hide CSS from older browsers is a useful skill too. @import is your friend.

[andrewwyld.livejournal.com]

http://www.webreference.com/ -- I can't remember where they're keeping it, but follow signs for "HTML" or "tutorial" or ideally "HTML tutorial".

[wednesday]

Concur with mattmachell on websites, things to look out for, @import, and Zeldman's book -- add Eric Meyer's CSS: The Definitive Guide (2nd Ed.), and you might also find CSS Cookbook of some use. Eric Meyer on CSS is something you want after you've got a bit of a grounding, IMO.

And, yes, you *can* learn all this stuff from websites, but a good book or two can be incredibly helpful if you want everything all in one place. HTML/CSS books have gotten a bad rep over the years, but there are a few which don't deserve it.

[fantabulous.livejournal.com]

When I was learning HTML, I swore by the book "HTML for the World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro. ;-) She has a section about CSS in there.

She also has a website where you can look at/download examples. Check it out here: http://www.cookwood.com/html5ed/examples/

Did you mention something about an editor as well? I love HTML-kit (http://www.chami.com/html-kit/download/). It's definitely idiot-proof and it's free to download, but I don't think they have a Mac version available, and I think that's what your on, yeah? If that doesn't work, look at Nonags (http://nonags.com) and see if you can find something there. ;-) They have all sorts of freeware you can take a look at.

[mostlyacat.livejournal.com]

I learnt CSS from the reference info included with 1st Page 2000 which is a good free HTML editor thing. It's at evrsoft (http://www.evrsoft.com/).