CSS is a nice way to let you author your information/prose/data – and then spruce up its looks later on – without touching the original content.

I started using CSS in earnest around 2002, a little while after I started getting into XSL-FO.

CSS is easier to work express what you want than XSL-FO, which lets you be more precise. Since no web browsers directly support XSL-FO yet, it is somewhat on the side lines for the time being – with respect to web page content. That is probably why this book does not cover it.

These days, it is de rigeur to know CSS really well if you are involved with web work in some way. That is why I bought this book.

I also wanted an up-to-date reference with respect to XHTML.

So far, I am slightly disappointed that the book did not include at least short sections on SVG, XUL/XBL, and HTC.

XUL, it is obvious, is not going away. SVG, it is equally obvious, is here.

And Microsoft’s HTC was used to prototype IE 7 so it has some proven usefulness.

Nevertheless, so far I like the book – especially the sections on CSS.

The web is going to really get great when XHTML 2.0 comes out. For now, the closest you can get is XHTML 1. This book covers that and CSS 2.1.