Book Note: Eric Meyer on CSS

I just finished the first chapter and I have mixed feelings. The first thing to realize about this book is that it makes no attempt to teach CSS. It assumes that the reader knows the syntax and wants to learn how to apply it. The really challenging part of Meyer's approach is that he is starting with a completed page in HTML, stripping out almost all of the formatting, and then adding back CSS to recreate the original design. This means that he keeps switching between the old version and the new one. This is very challenging and he does it well. He moves in very small steps, and all of the sample files are on the book's website, so it is easy to follow along. My biggest complaint is that he almost never says WHY he is doing something a certain way. Adding a font or border is obvious, but when he has a choice between using a distinct table or <div> tag for example, he chooses one or another without discussing his decision process. Overall, I'm impressed by what can be done with CSS and look forward to rewriting this blog's design. The next chapter is a calendar, so I may try to rewrite my archive pages when I finish it.