Dan Cederholm's "Web Standard Solutions"

18 Aug 2004 by Matthew Linderman

Among books about XHTML and CSS, Dan Cederholm’s “Web Standard Solutions” really stands out. Instead of a lot of “this is why you should use CSS here” or “here’s how you can do this in CSS” (understandably the common approaches used in most first generation books on the topic), this book gives you “these are the three possible ways to do this in CSS and the advantages/disadvantages to each.”

There are in-depth analyses on a wide range of coding issues, including topics like 1) using various image replacement techniques — FIR, LIR, or Phark method? — to replace plain hypertext with graphical text, 2) providing alternate style sheets so people control the styles they see, 3) using tags like tabindex, fieldset, and legend to code forms wisely, and plenty more. And even the simple topics provide an enlightening contrast/comparison approach.

For a taste of Dan’s approach, check out the SimpleQuiz at Simplebits.com.