Most Web pros would agree that CSS is the most robust technology available for styling a website built with HTML. Yet in spite of the overwhelming positives of CSS, some of us haven't joined in this love-fest at the center of many Web design circles. Why could this be? Well most of the written material of CSS ignores the disparity between "CSS in theory" and "CSS in practice."

To get the most out of any technology it's paramount to exploit its strengths and avoid its pitfalls. Half of the CSS books I've read are so boringly theoretical they're next to worthless. Most of the rest are so cosmetic and full of fluff they are more confusion than they are worth. So how does this book stack up to the rest of the stack?

A consistent quality of The Missing Manual series is its tendency to be engaging but also substantial. Fortunately this book shares that quality. Mr. McFarland's entry to the CSS universe has dimension and strikes a wonderful balance of theory and practice with just the right amount of humor. And any frequent reader of technical materials knows that a little humor can go a long way to lighten the journey toward enlightenment. All of this is housed in a nice organization which makes quick referencing much easier.

The chapters provide a sturdy foundation of core CSS knowledge. This includes how to write HTML to suit CSS (often left out of other books); style sheet and style creation; decisions regarding what to style; use of inheritance and cascading; style definition for text, margins, padding, and borders; the presentation of graphics with CSS; links and navigational structures building; tables-free design; layouts with floats; layouts designed for printing; fine-tuned element positioning; and how to write CSS code in the cleanest, most easily updated manner.

On this foundation of core knowledge, the author includes a great deal of practical advice on avoiding CSS pitfalls. The tips are caveats are clearly (if not a little garishly) corralled inside grey blocks. These little inclusions are important tidbits which could save the typical developer hours of poking around the tubes for workarounds and hacks. Particularly handy is his discussion on CSS support in the new iteration of Microsoft's premier Web browser.

As with any other worthwhile endeavor, CSS is learned not through spectating but through participating. Therefore any CSS book should encourage the reader to follow along and provide easy examples for user code-along fun. This happens to be a real strength of this text. The author chooses to structure examples around a fictional (but fully functional) site which evolves as the book progresses. This is a refreshing alternative to the typical "examples in a vacuum" approach found in many similar texts. Another benefit resulting from the author's approach is we see how small changes to the CSS results in large effects in the style of site. This gives a good sense of the "power" of CSS quickly.

I rarely give any book five out of five stars. In fact if a reviewer gives consistent five star ratings without citing specific reasons why, I tend to think the person is hopelessly full of it. However this book's content is as solid as it gets.