Another book from popular "Missing Manual" series and yet another book on CSS. There are so many out there you have to ask why I've chosen to review this one, as I've reviewed so many in the past. Well, I'm always on the lookout for things that make life a little easier and this book proved yet again that you can teach an old dog new tricks. I can't believe I just called myself an old dog ... but I digress ... on with the review ...

The Missing Manual books have the tag-line "The book that should have been in the box" and if CSS had come in a box I would have to agree with this line. For those of you that have missed the point about CSS, author David Sawyer McFarland says "You can't design a fantastic looking website that works well and downloads quickly without understanding Cascading Style Sheets - the formatting language used to make boring HTML look fantastic." So with that in mind Mr Sawyer McFarland sets about to teach you everything he knows about CSS and he does it in a very pleasant way.

If I were just starting to learn HTML this book would be a fantastic way to do it because it integrates CSS at the very basic level and then builds up the reader's knowledge to accomplish some very sophisticated CSS trickery. The books covers images, positioning and whole lot more, as you'll see in the topics listed below, but it also offers useful tips on good habits to get into when coding using CSS. Alot of coders aren't real sticklers for strict coding habits so a refocus occasionally is a good thing.

Some of the highlights of topics covered:

• Identifying what to style
• Saving time with inheritance
• Managing multiple styles
• Adding graphics to websites
• Spruce up your navigation
• Building float-based layouts
• Improving your CSS habits

As mentioned, these are just some of the topics covered but I found the level of knowledge exemplary and the author's personal tips extremely beneficial.

The books earns a thumbs up from me for the author's writing style, for the comprehensive information on offer and because I liked it. What more can I say.