Lunch with George

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Safari Bookshelf Update: Head First Books Added

I've subscribed to O'Rielly's Safari Bookshelf for a few years now (George has, too), but I was always disappointed that possibly their best series of books was not included: The Head First series.

If you want to effectively learn a new programming technology, nothing comes close to the Head First books. George recently completed the HTML and CSS book ,and I'm interested in the Ajax one.

I just read a post over at the O'Reilly Radar blog that these books have been added to Safari! For a minimum subscription of $9.99, you can have access to all of them. You can try the Safari Online Bookshelf for free for two weeks.

Labels: css, head first, html, orielly

Friday, October 08, 2004

It's time to leave nested tables and spacer GIFs behind

One 5-minute visit to the website CSS Zen Garden, and I am completely sold that CSS is the way to go. The Zen Garden is a pleasantly designed web page, with clearly deliniated regions which provide a heading, a main body, a vertical nav bar, and a few other components.

It talks about the important lesson of the masters: Don't mix content with presentational data.

This is a great concept, much as the idea of separating presentation from business logic in a two- or three-tier architecture. But often the two start creeping back into one another...

But after you read the motivational words of wisdom, you discover a menu of other style designs from which you can select. Basically, clicking on one of the designs results in the re-display of the same HTML file, but using a different style sheet.

The results are stunning! It is as if you have visited an entirely distinct web page. But as you read the content, you realize it is the same... the content, that is.

Visit the CSS Zen Garden, read the wise writings, and move some of the objects around (i.e., select other designs), and you will see the light. There's no question that CSS is the ticket to site consistency, design control, significantly reduced development (and redesign) time, and faster load times for visitors to the site.

Labels: css

Paul is reading...

It's been almost 20 years since Stephen R. Donaldson published book 3 of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. White Gold Wielder was a disappointing ending to a disappointing second trilogy. Donaldson claimed he put off writing the final trilogy until he was a better writer. I can't wait to see if it is as good as the first!

Paul regularly visits

MacGadgetry
A daily tech blog of cool stuff to make your Mac and iPod experiences better.

REI-OUTLET.com (Daily)
Deals & bargains on outdoor gear, equipment & clothing for camping, cycling. They have a "DEAL OF THE DAY", sometimes it's 75% off!

Engadget (Daily)
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics.

Cheap Stingy Bastard (Daily)
An independent guide to good deals and the frugal lifestyle. Great deals from all over the web.

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