FOREWORD BY ERIC A. MEYER
“This is a new generation of CSS books, for a new generation
of CSS. Nobody is better at making sense of this new CSS than
Lea Verou—among the handful of truly amazing coders I’ve known.”
—Jerey Zeldman, author,
Designing With Web Standards
BETTER SOLUTIONS TO EVERYDAY WEB DESIGN PROBLEMS
VEROU
Lea Verou is an Invited Expert in the W3C
CSS Working Group, the committee that
designs the CSS language, and previously
worked as a Developer Advocate at the
W3C, the Web’s main standards organization.
Currently, Lea conducts research in Human-
Computer Interaction at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT). She also blogs,
speaks at international conferences, and
codes popular open source projects to help
fellow developers.
MORE PRAISE FOR CSS SECRETS:
“There aren’t many books which provide as
many practical techniques as Lea Verou’s
CSS Secrets
. Filled with dozens of solutions
to common design problems, the book is
a truly valuable collection of smart tips and
tricks for getting things done well, and fast.
Worth reading, even if you think that you
know the ins and outs of CSS!”
— Vitaly Friedman
Co-founder and Editor-in-chief
Smashing Magazine
“Without fail, whenever I read something
written by Lea Verou, I manage to learn
something new.
CSS Secrets
is no dierent.
The book is broken down into easy-to-
digest chunks filled with lots of juicy bits of
knowledge. While some of the book is very
forward looking, there is plenty that I’ve
been able to take away and apply to my
own projects right away.”
— Jonathan Snook
Web Designer and Developer
“Lea Verou’s
CSS Secrets
is useful not
so much as a collection of CSS tips, but
as a textbook on how to solve problems
with CSS. Her in-depth explanation of the
thought process behind each secret will
teach you how to create your own solutions
to CSS problems. And don’t miss the
Introduction, which contains some must-
read CSS Best Practices.”
— Elika J. Etemad aka fantasai
W3C CSS Working Group
Invited Expert
“Lea Verou’s encyclopaedic
mind is one of a kind, but
thanks to this generous book,
you too can get an insight into
what it’s like to wield CSS to
do just about anything you
can think of. Even if you think
you know CSS inside-out, I
guarantee that there are still
secrets in this book waiting
to be revealed.”
— Jeremy Keith
Shepherd of Unknown
Futures, Clearleft
“If you want the inside scoop
on fascinating CSS techniques,
smart best practices, and
some flat-out brilliance, don’t
hesitate—read this book.
I loved it!”
—Eric A. Meyer
“
CSS Secrets
is an instant
classic—so many wonderful
tips and tricks you can use
right away to enhance your
UX designs!”
— Christopher Schmitt
Author of
CSS Cookbook
“Lea is an exceedingly clever
coder. This book is absolutely
packed with clever and useful
ideas, even for people who
know CSS well. Even better,
you’ll feel more clever in your
work as this book encourages
pushing beyond the obvious.”
— Chris Coyier
CodePen
In this practical guide, CSS expert Lea Verou provides 47
undocumented techniques and tips to help intermediate-to-
advanced CSS developers devise elegant solutions to a wide
range of everyday web design problems.
Rather than focus on design,
CSS Secrets
shows you how
to solve problems with code. You’ll learn how to apply Lea’s
analytical approach to practically every CSS problem you
face to attain DRY, maintainable, flexible, lightweight, and
standards-compliant results.
Inspired by her popular talks at over 60 international web
development conferences, Lea Verou provides a wealth
of information for topics including:
n
Background & Borders
n
User Experience
n
Shapes
n
Structure & Layout
n
Visual Eects
n
Transitions & Animations
n
Typography
“This is a new generation of CSS books, for a new generation
of CSS. Nobody is better at making sense of this new CSS than
Lea Verou—among the handful of truly amazing coders I’ve known.”
—Jerey Zeldman, author,
Designing With Web Standards
oreilly.com
FOREWORD BY ERIC A. MEYER
CSS/Web Development
ISBN: 978-1-449-37263-7
US $39.99 CAN $45.99
“
“
“
Praise for CSS Secrets
This is a new generation of CSS books, for a new generation of CSS. No longer a simple language
tied to complicated browser hacks and workarounds, CSS is now a richly powerful and deeply complex
ecosystem of over 80 W3C
specifications. Nobody is better at making sense of this new CSS, and of
providing design principles that help you solve problems with it, than Lea Verou—among the handful
of truly amazing coders I’ve known.”
— Jeffrey Zeldman
author, Designing with Web Standards
Lea Verou’s encyclopaedic mind is one of a kind, but thanks to this generous book, you too can get
an insight into what it’s like to wield CSS to do just about anything you can think of. Even if you think
you know CSS inside-out, I guarantee that there are still secrets in this book waiting to be revealed.”
— Jeremy Keith
Shepherd of Unknown Futures, Clearleft
If you want the inside scoop on fascinating CSS techniques, smart best practices, and some
flat-out
brilliance, don’t hesitate—read this book. I loved it!”
— Eric A. Meyer
“
“
“
“
“
Lea is an exceedingly clever coder. This book is absolutely packed with clever and useful ideas, even
for people who know CSS well. Even better, you’ll feel more clever in your work as this book encour-
ages pushing beyond the obvious.”
— Chris Coyier
CodePen
CSS Secrets is an instant classic—so many wonderful tips and tricks you can use right away to enhance
your UX designs!”
— Christopher Schmitt
author of CSS Cookbook
There aren’t many books that provide as many practical techniques as Lea Verou’s CSS Secrets. Filled
with dozens of solutions to common design problems, the book is a truly valuable collection of smart
tips and tricks for getting things done well, and fast. Worth reading, even if you think that you know
the ins and outs of CSS!”
— Vitaly Friedman
cofounder and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine
Without fail, whenever I read something written by Lea Verou, I manage to learn something new.
CSS Secrets is no different. The book is broken down into easy-to-digest chunks
filled with lots of
juicy bits of knowledge. While some of the book is very forward looking, there is plenty that I’ve been
able to take away and apply to my own projects right away.”
— Jonathan Snook
web designer and developer
Lea’s book is fantastic. She bends and contorts CSS to do things I’m pretty sure even the spec authors
never imagined! You will learn multiple ways of accomplishing each graphic effect by trying out the
techniques she walks through in each chapter. Later, in your work, you’ll
find yourself saying, “hmm,
that thing Lea did will work perfectly here!” Before you know it, your site is almost image free because
your graphics are all in easy to maintain CSS components. What’s more, her techniques are fun,
walking the line between practical and improbable!”
— Nicole Sullivan
Principal Software Engineer, creator of OOCSS
“
“
“
“
“
Lea Verou’s CSS Secrets is useful not so much as a collection of CSS tips, but as a textbook on how
to solve problems with CSS. Her in-depth explanation of the thought process behind each secret will
teach you how to create your own solutions to CSS problems. And don’t miss the Introduction, which
contains some must-read CSS best practices.”
— Elika J. Etemad (aka fantasai)
W3C CSS Working Group Invited Expert
Lea’s presentations have long been must-see events at web development conferences around the
world. A distillation of her years of experience, CSS Secrets provides elegant solutions for thorny web
design issues, while also—and more importantly—showing how to solve problems in CSS. It’s an
absolute must-read for every frontend designer and developer.”
— Dudley Storey
designer, developer, writer, web education specialist
I thought I had a pretty advanced understanding of CSS, then I read Lea Verou’s book. If you want to
take your CSS knowledge to the next level, this is a must-own.”
— Ryan Seddon
Team Lead, Zendesk
CSS Secrets is by far the most technical book that I have ever read on the topic. Lea has managed to
push the boundaries of a language as simple as CSS so far that you will not be able to distinguish this
from magic.
Definitely not a beginner’s read; it’s heavily recommended to anyone thinking they know
CSS all too well.”
— Hugo Giraudel
frontend developer, Edenspiekermann
I often think that CSS can seem a bit like magic: a few rules can transform your web pages from blah
to beautiful. In CSS Secrets, Lea takes the magic to a whole new level. She is a master magician of
CSS, and we get to explore that magical world along with her. I can’t count how many times I said
out loud while reading this book, “That’s so cool!” The only trouble with CSS Secrets is that after
reading it, I want to stop everything else I’m doing and play with CSS all day.”
— Elisabeth Robson
cofounder of WickedlySmart.com and coauthor of Head First JavaScript Programming
