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10 CSS Web Design For Dummies

Part III concludes with some cool transition effects. You see how to gently

fade in some text or graphics. (You’ve seen the effect on the better-designed

Web pages: One element gradually grows dim as a second element under-

neath it becomes visible.) You also discover other special effects like those

seen in movies and TV. Do you want to add some of these animations and

transitions to your own pages? You can.

Part IV: Advanced CSS Techniques ...................................................

Part IV focuses on various sophisticated techniques for those of you who

have mastered the CSS basics, beginning with an exploration of the ways that

CSS styles cascade, the tree structure, and inheritance in general. You also

discover the latest cutting-edge selectors, pseudo-elements (they’re not as

pseudo as they might seem), and how CSS3 will redefine the way CSS behaves.

You find out how to employ scripting,which for many designers is their first

exposure to true computer programming. True, any time you communicate

with a computer (CSS included), you’re using a computer language and, in a

technical sense, programming. But scripting is hard-core programming. You

can tell the Web page to do pretty much anything you want it to do with

scripts. You learn about dynamic code (changing CSS properties and styles

while your page is in the user’s browser), timers, animation techniques, tog-

gling, and other cool effects possible only via scripts.

You need not go on to becomea script programmer, however, to put these

effects into your Web pages. You can just copy and paste — monkey see,

monkey do fashion — and the scripts do their jobs just as well as if you knew

what you were doing. Part IV concludes with how to fix ailing CSS and HTML

code. Called validating, parsing,or more accurately, debugging,you find out

the best way to track down and repair Web pages that misbehave and don’t

do what you want them to do.

Part V: The Part of Tens ......................................................................

This is the smallest Part in the book, but it’s moist and succulent. It includes

various tips, tricks, techniques, and topics that I wanted to include in the

book but didn’t quite find a perfect place for elsewhere.

Sure, it’s a grab-bag — I’m not hiding that fact — but you might find the just

tip you’ve been looking for here. The topics include a utility that you can use

to understand complex CSS selectors (it translates complicated CSS code

into ordinary English); how to avoid common CSS coding errors; a browser-

independent way to center headlines, text, or graphics; fixing script problems;

some of the best CSS online resources, including a site that offers excellent,

understandable tutorials on the more baffling aspects of advanced CSS

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