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Transcending CSS

March 20, 2007 [11:57 am]

If I should summarize this book in single sentence I would say that this is the most beautifully presented book about web design I have ever seen.

The books deals very well with design issues as well as coding and accessibility. In terms of design you will find lots of inspiration presented in many different ways. The book is full of amazing photographs, pictures and artwork collections.

Inspiration

Andy explains where you can find the inspiration in the real world and this is the section where I found myself in the same box. The inspiration is everywhere and there is no point to concentrate on the web only. It is about walking with open eyes and looking around whenever you are. You can find the inspiration for your projects in architecture projects such are building, bridges or in the transport projects such are vehicles, signs or in furniture projects such are tables, sofas or in the print products such are posters, adverts, magazines, packages etc. In all of these examples you will find colours, patterns, shapes, icons, symbols, layouts.

Grid

Quite big part of the book is dedicated to explanation how grid is implemented in modern web design. To be honest when I was reading this part something clicked in my brain and I have just realized why I liked some sites even I was not able to specify exactly the reason. Now I know. It is a precise use of grid.

As excellent example is Jeff Croft’s site. You cannot see the vibrant colours or rounded corners but the site looks absolutely cool. Jeff uses 4 columns grid for his site and that is the point where is the magic. Everything sits just in its place and your eye can fly true the content very easily. Obviously it is not the only factor why his site looks cool but it plays significant role. It was always one of my favourites sites.

In the last part Andy explains the term transcendence and all the necessary techniques how to achieve it with a help of CSS. Positioning, dealing with multiple image backgrounds, designing with multi-column layouts and lot more.

Summary

The book is well written and easy to read and that is the best synergy how you can learn and relax at the same time. Most of the points are presented with a use of wonderful images. And as science says the human memory will more easy store the information if it is visually presented. I wish all the books about web design would be presented this way.

Thank you Andy. Great work!