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BOOK REVIEWS THE BOOK OF CSS3 WORDS BY RIC GETTER Web developer and author Peter Gasston wants to let you in on a little secret. Many of the visual and interactive marvels that Apple (see www.apple.com/html5) and others attribute to HTML5 have little or nothing to do with the up-and-coming version of the web's markup language. The truth, according to Gasston, is that their source is the latest manifestation of CSS and is already broadly supported by the latest web browsers (virtually all if you count ). is your guide into this new realm of web design that offers a quantum-level impact on user experience and, in many respects, actually simplifies coding. Gasston starts off with some straight talk on what CSS3 is and isn't, how the standard is being developed and why it may never really be a "standard." He also explains how to use its unique modular design to safely add CSS3 features into current production sites. The book goes though the new CSS3 elements in the order of how broadly the features are currently supported. Beginning with Media Queries, the technology that lets a web page sense what kind if device the viewer is using (and is supported by most handheld devices), Gasston progresses through a variety of styling and layout features that can add a great deal of polish with a minimum of code. You'll discover many of the transition and animation features that you once thought were part of HTML5 and get a sense of the future of CSS3's rapidly expanding capabilities. What makes CSS3 a real breakthrough technology is that it takes elements that would normally have to be built outside of web coding (animated transitions, sophisticated typography, graphical enhancements, and the like), and moves them to the style sheet. Even browser-specific variations break out of arcane JavaScript calls and are transformed into easily managed CSS options. One of the author's consistent themes throughout the book is how CSS3 will make your life as a designer and coder easier. Though was written to take the reader into a new world, it offers one of the clearest approaches to explaining CSS syntax and structure we've seen. In fact, it does lead us to wonder why someone couldn't have written a book this good when we were first learning CSS. Gasston provides an exceptionally consistent structure in his explanations of syntactical rules and examples of use, but his writing is lively and direct. You never feel like you're reading a dry technical reference, yet it's a book you'll find yourself regularly referring back to. In fact, we'll go so far as to say that is arguably one of the best- written and best-designed technical guides we've seen in some time. I9 E T h e B o o k o f C S S 3 T h e B o o k o f C S S 3 T 8h pe a B go so ,k I o Bf N C :S 9S 73 8 b 1y - P 5e 9t 3e 2r 7 G -a 2 S s - e 2 7 T h s 8 t 6o -n 9 ; $ 3 e B o o 4 . k 9 o 5 , f C N S o S 3 S t a r c h P r e s s ( N o S t a r c h . c o m ) 2 0 1 1 ;