What a bargain this book was, used at $2! That's what I thought, anyway, as I clicked and ordered. But, buyer beware, it was NOT the 2nd edition. So, everything I have to say applies to the first edition, which is the one I bought.



That having been said, what another reviewer said was true, this actually IS the best reference book in print on CSS. Well, at least it was until the 2nd edition came out. Ok, whine whine whine. But seriously, the explanation of the CSS box model is blessedly short and equally blessedly clear. I have tried and used tons of examples from this short book in production, and learned a lot about CSS. I would heartily recommend even the first edition (writing now in 2010). Especially if you only have $2 to spend! (Boo hoo hoo).



There was just one thing missing from a book entitled CSS Mastery, that I think should have been included. I got my website pages I was doing all ready for review, and then asked my reviewer to review them. Well, practically the first thing he did was try to print, and it came out all wacky. That's right, I hadn't even given the wisp of a thought to including a print stylesheet. Don't you think a book with a title like "CSS Mastery" really ought to have a chapter on printing? There isn't even a "printing" entry in the index, although that's a good thing, 'cause if there were it would be incorrect. This book doesn't cover formatting for print using CSS, AT ALL!



Not even the line that tells how to include your print stylesheet, like this:



But now that you DO know how to put in that line, the book pretty much gives you the expertise to change your stylesheet to use points instead of pixels, and make hidden the things that you don't want to print. But it would have been good to have these guys cover the ground, because there ARE cross-browser differences in printing too, and one of them caused me to waste almost a whole afternoon.



Hey, one of you other reviewers out there! Does the second edition of this book cover CSS printing?