Product Overview
HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition
Author: Rachel Andrew & Dan Shafer
‘Now You Too Can Easily Create Modern ‘Table-free’ Websites Using CSS from scratch’
- Write faster loading, dramatically smaller pages
- Speed up site maintenance by separating the content from the layout
- Create flexible 3-column designs with ease
- Write device-independent CSS that will work on everything from a PC to an internet refridgerator
- Write search engine friendly pages that can actually be understood by search engines
*Purchase this book directly from sitepoint.com and receive your choice of any one of our four reference posters (JavaScript, CSS,PHP, or Linux).
So, how can CSS help me?
After reading ‘HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS’ you will not only understand how to use CSS to emulate old-school, table-driven web layouts, you will be creating Web sites that would be impossible to design using traditional methods
Jeffrey Zeldman
The Web Standards Project
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) deal with issues that HTML cannot handle. CSS is a powerful, flexible way to specify HTML formatting. It lets you separate the style and layout of your HTML from its content, allowing you to control the position, margins, spacing, fonts, colors, typefaces, and other aspects of a web document's elements without compromising its structure.
This completely revised and expanded second edition includes new techniques for laying out your web pages using positional CSS, and makes crafting beautiful, accessible and maintainable websites a snap. First published in 2003, the first edition was considered to be the definitive guide to CSS - a step-by-step, clearly written tutorial. The 2nd Edition revision and updates ensure it remains just as relevant to web developers today.
What will I learn?
Rachel Andrew and Dan Shafer’s book is a comprehensive guide to learning and applying the principles of CSS to your Website.
This book will teach you how to
- Appreciate why maintaining tables is a nightmare and how CSS can help
- Understand when to use CSS and when not to use CSS
- Build robust, flexible two- and three-column layouts using CSS positioning.
- Easily build both fixed-width and liquid page layouts
- Reap the benefits of inheritance in CSS
- Style text and other content using CSS
- Make the most of other non-obvious uses of CSS
- Use CSS to achieve maximum Web Accessibility
- Design sites that are standards compliant
- Accommodate older Browsers
- And much more...
Plus, it also comes with a sophisticated sample website styled and layed out completely with CSS and a FREE download of the site and all of its code.
And on top of this ‘HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition’ also includes the most complete CSS Property Reference of any book ever written about CSS - with over 150 CSS properties described.
Check out the Table of Contents
What's new in the 2nd edition?
- New information on making your site compatible with Firefox 1.5 and the upcoming Internet Explorer 7
- New sections on making 1-, 2- and 3-column layouts, using both floated and absolutely positioned elements
- How to create site footers below columns, and how to extend columns vertically down to the footer
- Information on making your site more accessible using CSS and semantic HTML
- All new sample website demonstrating the CSS techniques used in the 2nd edition
- Included property reference has been updated to CSS 2.1
- Corrections and clarifications throughout the book
All of the layout techniques used in the 2nd edition have been thoroughly tested in production in all of the popular modern browsers and are hack-free, so they will continue to work in Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, and beyond.
Who should read this book?
Like all SitePoint books, ‘HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition’ is written in a clear tutorial format that's easy to understand. If you hate wading through dry, academic-style books on web design, this book is the breath of fresh air you've been waiting for.
If you've never built a website completely with CSS before and you're looking to go beyond the limitations of old-fashioned, table-based sites, this book will have you creating professional CSS-based sites in no time.
No-risk Money-back Guarantee
Of course we’re so confident that you’ll treasure this book for years to come that we’re happy, as always, for you to try it risk-free for 30 days. If you purchase a copy of HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition and you don’t think it’s everything you wanted, we would like you to have your money back.
Simply contact us and we will see to it that you get a prompt and courteous refund of the full purchase price minus shipping and handling.
What could be fairer than this?
How To Order This Book

The fastest way to get your hands on the most recent version of HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition is by ordering it direct through us, the publisher, for $39.95.
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