Ask HN: Can you recommend advanced books on CSS?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12043170

by zygimantasdev • 10 years ago

11 14 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hello HN!

was wondering if you could recommend up-to-date books, similar material on CSS which go over best practices, advanced topics. For some reason they are hard to find. Thanks!

ryanlm• 10 years ago

I think you're better off reading the box model spec.

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Thanks for the answer. I will check it - never thought of doing that!

codegeek• 10 years ago

Not a book necessarily but I really like this css reference:

http://tympanus.net/codrops/css_reference/

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Looks really good. Thank you!

OtterCoder• 10 years ago

CSS is an art in a very literal sense. Once you know the basic technique a book won't help you as much as seeing examples in the wild and trying to reverse engineer them. To learn the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts of CSS, try reading the CSS-Tricks blog and digging into the documentation on MDN.

Finally, to truly master CSS, learn the art of brevity. Most stylesheets I see are terribly bloated and over specified. Always ask, "Can I do this in fewer declarations? Do I really need all of these constraints? Is there a single style that will work smoothly across all sizes without media queries?"

Learn that, and you won't need a book.

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Thanks for the tips! Already had been trying to understand css tricks - but always looking for more relevant information in one place - a book.

purans• 10 years ago

CSS Mastery is a good one - https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Mastery-Advanced-Standards-Soluti...

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Thanks - will check it out. Although from a quick glimpse at the reviews it seems a little bit outdated.

adamnemecek• 10 years ago

Check out smacss https://smacss.com

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Will check it out - thanks

Hamatti• 10 years ago

One of my favorite books is Lea Verou's CSS Secrets [0].

[0] http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920031123.do

zygimantasdev6• 10 years ago

Looks really good. Thanks!

brudgers• 10 years ago

Eric Meyer wrote CSS: The Definitive Guide. The current edition {4th} was released section by section. It can be found here:

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/au/52

percept• 10 years ago

You might try: https://abookapart.com/

I read their _Responsive Web Design_ title a while back and found it helpful and concise.

I see there's a CSS3 title written by the founder of Dribbble, for example, and updated in 2015.

This stuff changes so quickly, it may also be better to follow online, as others have suggested.

Ask HN: Can you recommend advanced books on CSS?

Related Stories