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Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Dan Cederholm
| Category:
Internet, Web developing, Web Design |
| Market price: ¥ 398.00
MSL price:
¥ 368.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Bulletproof Web Design does an incredible job of teaching, step-by-step, how to make your website 'Bulletproof.' |
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Author: Dan Cederholm
Publisher: New Riders Press
Pub. in: July, 2005
ISBN: 0321346939
Pages: 280
Measurements: 9 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01015
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0321346933
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- MSL Picks -
Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cerderholm is an excellent example of how any instructional book should be written. It doesn't read like a text book and has refreshing polished look and feel. Fit and finish aside, the book guides by example, and provides a wealth of information for readers of all skill levels. Each section takes a traditional solution and shows several ways to accomplish it, as well as the pros and cons of each. It also stresses standard compliant methods that are compact and supported by all the major browsers.
Pros:
- Very well written and formatted
- Loaded with real world examples
- Color illustrations
- Uses compact and widely supported methods
- Great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Excellent for learning semantic markup
- Downloadable examples from the author's website
Cons:
- Leaves out some sought after CSS solutions and advanced techniques
Target readers:
Web developers, Web designers.
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DAN CEDERHOLM is a web designer and author living in Massachusetts, and the founder of SimpleBits, a tiny design studio.
A recognized expert in the field of standards-based web design, Dan co-founded the wine community site, Cork’d and has worked with Google, MTV, ESPN, Fast Company, Blogger, Odeo (and others), also collaborating with Happy Cog on selected projects. He embraces flexible, adaptable design using web standards through his client work, writing, and speaking.
Dan is the author of two best-selling books: Bulletproof Web Design (New Riders) and Web Standards Solutions (Apress/Friends of ED). Dan also runs a popular blog where he writes articles and commentary on the web, technology and life. And he plays a mean ukulele.
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No matter how visually appealing or packed with content your Web site is, it isn't succeeding if it's not reaching the widest possible audience. If you get this guide, you can be assured it will! By deconstructing a series of real-world Web sites, author and Web designer extraordinaire Dan Cederholm outlines 10 strategies for creating standards-based designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control—key components of every successful Web site. Each chapter starts out with an example of what Dan refers to as an "unbulletproof" concept—an existing site that employs a traditional approach and its associated pitfalls. Dan then deconstructs that approach, noting its downsides and then making the site over using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). By the end of each chapter, you'll have replaced traditional, bloated, inaccessible page components with lean markup and CSS. The guide culminates with a chapter that pieces together all of the page components discussed in prior chapters into a single page template.
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| View all 10 comments |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
This is an excellent book on CSS. The title is a little misleading, as it is really about creating bulletproof web designs using CSS. It does not address any of the myriad of other topics that would make a site bulletproof like security, XHTML, web servers, application servers, etc. etc.
If you don't know what CSS is yet, then this book is certainly not for you. If you are looking for a basic getting started book on HTML, with a little on CSS I would suggest the VERY excellent Elizabeth Castro book, now in its sixth edition entitled "HTML, XHTML and CSS, sixth Edition" a Quick Start quide.
Dan Cederholm's book "Bulletproof Web Design's" is a good companion to other more basic books, once you know that you want to use CSS to format web sites, and have a clue how to use it.
The one problem I have with this book, is that it _only_ provides the CSS. There is absolutely no HTML anywhere, which makes looking at examples a litle tough. The graphic illustrations of the results look great, the examples are useful, well explained and in a logical order.
This is certainly one of several books to have around when creating a modern web site with HTML and CSS.
In fact, it can be a good companion for those who both hand-code sites, and use professional tools like Dreamweaver.
So, as a CSS book, I give it 5 stars, as a general bulletproof web design book, I give it 3 stars, because it really has very little content about the other relevant subjects.. But, I'll be fair and rate this as a CSS book, title notwithstanding, and give it 5 stars.
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Keri Morgret (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-06-29 00:00>
I received this book as a review copy several months ago, but was in the middle of a move and didn't have time to look at it. Now that I'm working in web design, the book has become my best friend.
I had a knowledge of basic HTML four years ago, but haven't kept up with the new web standards. I am an expert user of software applications, so I don't need a book that wastes text and pictures with telling me to click Start, then click Programs, etc. I also understand the concept of styles and the difference between styles and hard-coded attributes. For the technical writers in the audience, it's the difference between using a Heading in Word to make text bold and larger, and using the Bold and Font buttons to change the text. One is much easier to change when the boss decides it should be 14 points instead of 16 points..
Each chapter starts out with a real or fictitious example of a web page element (text, navigation, rows, etc.). The examples look pretty good, but they are based on traditional HTML. Then a closer look is taken at HOW the design is made, and why it is not "bulletproof". Specifying the font in pixels is great for the designer when it comes to control, but when someone has less than 20/20 vision and needs to make the text larger, it fails miserably. The author then lists the alternatives, and examples of when to use which alternative.
This book is exactly what I need at this point in my business. I am working for a client with several existing sites, many of which were developed with templates and in traditional HTML. While the sites may look OK on the surface, if you have the right browser and it has the proper settings, they need some upgrading to be of use to a larger number of users. This book is great as I start transforming those sites.
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Nate Klaiber (MSL quote) , USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
Bulletproof Web Design does an incredible job of teaching, step-by-step, how to make your website 'Bulletproof.' The author introduced the book by defining what it means to have a bulletproof website. He used the example of a police officer wearing a bulletproof vest. No, it is not 100% protection against a bullet - but it decreases the chances and is extra protection. When applied to a website, this means that your website can handle the `bullets' being thrown at it. These are things like text resizing, use of assistive devices, no CSS, no images, and a few other examples.
The thing I liked most about this book is that it wasn't preaching web standards - It was simply walking you through each chapter - with each chapter building on the last - and showing you techniques that work. The book itself does an incredible job of keeping your attention through the use of images, highlighting, and full code listing. For those who can't quite grasp CSS (especially positioning and the like), this book is extremely helpful through its thorough explanations and visuals. Screenshots are provided each step of the way to let you see your progress.
Each chapter introduces you to new ways of handling things like text display, link display, navigation, list elements, layouts, floating, positioning, and a few others. Each chapter first take an example of a website (or aspect of a website) that is NOT bulletproof, then re-constructs that example with semantic XHTML and CSS to show you the results. The last chapter of the book brings it all together and shows you how it could be used in a production environment, with each piece of the puzzle being put together. The author doesn't dwell on the array of hacks and filters - but simply lists the ones that he uses and how they get the job done (and why they are needed).
Using proper XHTML and CSS is sometimes misunderstood. This is where many will start with a bad case of classitis and divitis and start going crazy adding extra markup. The author does a great job of creating very lean, structured, semantic XHTML. This is the XHTML that is friendly to browsers and other devices alike, as well as rich in meaning. Using proper elements to get the job done is vitally important to the meaning of the website itself. He focuses on this aspect, and with each chapter discusses the importance of the structure and not adding unnecessary presentational markup to your pages. It is this separation of presentation and content that ultimately makes using proper CSS a wise choice.
Quite frankly, this is one of the best CSS books I have read - and would recommend it to both the beginner and advanced CSS developer. This review doesn't even do the book justice - mainly because you need to buy it and read it to really enjoy the context as a whole. There are many things I could explain in more detail, and there are many different things that I learned through reading this book (some of which were things that were needed immediately). This is a no-fluff CSS book that brings everything together nicely, and a must have for any web developers bookshelf!
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Martin Edelius (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
I've read a lot of good about this book and a lot of good from Dan Cederholm so I had my hopes up when I got this book. I have to admit I was a bit let down.
Don't get me wrong, it does a fantastic job in exposing how easy it is to convert old and clumsy design to new, slick, CSS based design with very little effort.
It feels short though and, at times, repetative. The entire last chapter, while meant to be a recap of all the previous chapters, feels unnecessary as the entire book is only 260 pages. There's very little need for a recap when you read the entire book in a couple of hours.
It's not a great reference book either. While you can look up the chapter about indestructible boxes in order to check how Dan actually anchors all the corners, it's not laid out in a manner that encourages this (and I don't think that was the idea with the book to begin with either).
I did get a lot of inspiration and the section about floats was quite informative, though I would like some more information about what we're doing instead of just enough to solve the specific problem.
At times Dan hints to how to use certain tricks to achieve a certain result that's not part of the current design but most of the time the book points to various (mostly excellent) resources on the net where you need to continue your research on your own.
One thing the book does great is pointing out how important it is to have "logical" and intelligent markup before you start applying CSS and that CSS isn't the solution to every single design problem on the Internet.
I think the book is pricey considering that it's short and you will probably not use it as a reference guide once you get the hang of the ideas and tricks Dan teaches out.
If you on the other hand need to get a kickstart as far as designing with CSS goes then it's invaluable. I'm never going to use tables the same way as I used to, for instance.
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