CSS: An Introduction

Introduction

Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is the presentation component of what is typically understood to be the three–component makeup of a web document. (The other two being HTML and JavaScript.) This course covers the major aspects of CSS, focusing on its more difficult concepts, such as floating elements, specificity, numerical units, and inheritance.


Prerequisite ◊

You should understand, or be very familiar with, HTML. Additionally, you should have a firm grasp on the concept of HTML's inheritance structure. (A review takes place on the first day of class.)

If you don't know HTML, look at the tutorials at w3schools.com. Also, Hunter offers a six–week class.


Topics Covered


Assignments

There will be two homework assignments—one every two weeks—and a project, due on the last day of class.


Development Environment

You can write your source code in any text editor, but it must validate at the online CSS validator.


Announcements

6 November 2009:

Time and Place

There'll be a 15–minute break at about 2:00 PM


Dates

Saturday, 7 November 2009

Saturday, 14 November 2009

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Saturday, 5 December 2009

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Wednesday, 6 December 2009


Textbook ◊

There is no textbook for the course. Instead, there are a pair of free online tutorials that will support class lectures. Refer to the Assigned Readings section below for more.


Assigned Readings

Adding a Touch of Style
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/Style
The CSS Tutorial
http://www.csstutorial.net/

Suggested Readings

The Ultimate CSS Reference discusses which browsers support which tags, and explains in scant detail how all the tags work. The second book, CSS: The Definitive Guide, goes into exhaustive detail about concepts such as floating elements, the specificity, and all the CSS tags.

The former is appropriate for those with a good grasp on CSS, while the latter is more suited to those learning. If you can afford it, purchase both.

Title Author Edition ISBN Book cover
The Ultimate CSS Reference Tommy Olson and Paul O'Brien First 0980285852 [Cover of CSS: The Ultimate CSS Reference]
CSS: The Definitive Guide Eric A Meyer Third 0596527330 [Cover of CSS: The Definitive Guide]

Homework

Homework 1: due Friday, 20 November 2009, by 11:59 PM
Project 1: due Friday, 4 December 2009, by 11:59 PM

Homework instructions.


Project

TBA


Resources


Software

As mentioned in the Development Environment section above, you're welcome to write your code in any text editor. A good, cross platform editor is Amaya, which is developed by the W3. You're also advised to download a few extra browsers, so you can get multiple perspectives on your web documents.

Amaya
I advise you to use the W3's Amaya, which is free and available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux.
Any Browser
I encourage you to visit Kelson Vibber's Alternative Browser Alliance. Links to many free alternative web browsers are listed there, and the information contained on its pages will prove very useful as you learn HTML.

Contact

Email: rvanegas at hunter dot cuny dot edu

Office Hours: by appointment (via email) at NYU during the weekday.


[valid html 4.01!] [valid css 2.1!] [alternatives browsers!] [accessible by all!] [wai – wcag 1.0!]

Roy Vanegas
Last modified: Thu Jan 16 12:48:34 EST 2010