Hi all.
After my last post and all the responses that came after that, I first
decided to unsubscribe from css-d, but later I'm back again. Very
emotional, very Italian! But the point is another: for the new year
I'm going to be more supporting on this mailing list to the various
needs of its users.
As many of you have correctly pointed out, there's no need to write
useless links to my resources. In case you're interested, just as I
did in the past for my tests, here's the only link that I'm going to
share with you:
http://onwebdev.blogspot.com/search/label/css/
You can subscribe to my feeds if you want to. Done that, that's the
end of the story. Now it's time to come to real things.
I realized that the users of this mailing list fall into three basic
groups:
1. beginners
2. intermediate
3. advanced
The needs of one group are usually not the needs of another. So let's
try to tackle them:
1. Beginners
Beginners need very simple things and ask very simple questions.
I recommend these people not to read CSS specifications at first, but
only tutorials and, of course, the excellent Wiki of css-d.
Specifications are written in a very obscure manner. They're more
likely to be used by browser implementors or advanced users who need
to understand how things work in browsers (or how they should work).
Another thing is to get a good CSS editor to start coding: you
basically need an editor with
a) syntax highlighting
b) code completion
c) preview in browsers
d) validation tools
For Windows, excellent choices are Top Style, Komodo and CoffeeCup.
For Mac, Komodo (again), Style Master, and Coda. For Linux... I don't
use Linux since 2008, so run a search on Google. :-D
(Yes, Dreamweaver: I almost forgot!)
2. Intermediate
Intermediate users start coding in their own way, reading more
advanced tutorials and learning new techniques. They also may have
some experience with creating site themes and, most of all, they start
complaining about strange browser bugs and discrepancies.
I recommend to read some specific sites that take these problems into
account, like:
1. css-discuss Wiki
2. http://www.positioniseverything.net/
3. http://www.gunlaug.no/
4. http://sitepoint.com/
5. http://www.communitymx.com/
6. http://www.brunildo.org/test/
7. http://www.satzansatz.de/cssd/onhavinglayout.html (seminal work on
the hasLayout property of IE)
... - Google Search
(If I've forgot something/someone, just mention your/his/her link)
== http://meyerweb.com :-D
3. Advanced
Advanced users are basically highly skilled web developers who have a
strong experience with layouts and CSS. Quoting The Village of the
Damned (John Carpenter), what could I recommend you? Just a few links:
1. http://mxr.mozilla.org
The source code of Mozilla Firefox. If you know C++, JavaScript,
XML and the like, that's a good place to start a journey into a
browser's mind.
2. http://webkit.org
Same as above, but this time we're talking about the core of the
Safari browser.
3. www-style
The official mailing list for providing feedback to the CSS
Working Group on the development of CSS specifications.
4. http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/Overview.en.html
W3C CSS Test suites. Contributors are really appreciated.
Yes, advanced users have also a firm knowledge of CSS specifications,
so I'm not going to make it longer :-D
As always,
HTH (Hope That Helps)
Gabriele Romanato
http://www.css-zibaldone.com
http://www.css-zibaldone.com/test/ (English)
http://www.css-zibaldone.com/articles/ (English)
http://onwebdev.blogspot.com/ (English)
__
css-discuss [cs...@lists.css-discuss.org]
http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d
List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/
List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html
Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
