Weblog entry:
- Coming soon: Professional CSS
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My cat’s recently developed this preoccupation with chasing her own tail. It only happens in one room of the apartment; she’ll saunter into the kitchen, plunk herself in the middle of the floor, and then look at She and I in turn before suddenly pulling a feline blender routine. She’ll being running in a frenzied, tight circle, chasing her tail in full-on gyrokitty mode. She doesn’t necessarily make any progress—it’s probably the housecat equivalent of touching her own toes—but hey, she has fun doing it. After a few furried minutes, she’ll plunk back down on the floor, exhausted: she’ll lick her toes, sit quietly, or perhaps study a point on the wall. But after a few minutes, she’ll start the circling again.
And to finish off what is easily the world’s worst metaphor, that’s what the last few months have felt like. Not so much the licking toes thing, but more the reeling feeling that comes with working under deadlines short and frenzied. But while the cat never seems to make any progress, I feel as though I’ve finally caught that damned tail: I can finally blog about the upcoming book.
Professional CSS is due out in mid-July, if Amazon’s page is to be believed—and given that they’ve managed to leave one of my co-authors off of the page, I’m not sure how credible they are. Working with such CSS samurais as Todd Dominey, Dunstan Orchard, Christopher Schmitt, and Mark Trammell, this project’s been nearly illicit amounts of fun. And while the cover looks a bit like a Fox special on “When Geeks Attack”, the subject matter’s been the other incredibly rewarding bit. Each chapter features an in-depth dissection of a popular, CSS-driven site, and walks the user through a critical analysis of the tricks and tips used therein. Rockin’.But the focal point of each chapter is an interview with the designer, which gives (I think/hope) a stellar insight into not only their sick skill with CSS, but into their love of, well, professional and attractive design. Speaking to the likes of Dan Cederholm and Andy Clarke were easily the most entertaining parts of the process for me—so even if you’re not especially interested in hearing me blather on at length about simple selectors, their thoughts on design are more than worth the price of admission.
So, yeah. It’s due out in a few months: tell your friends, as I think it’ll be a damned good read.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I just realized I wrote “focal point” in a blog entry. Catch you later: I have to hurl myself in front of a truck now. Ta.
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Update: And yes, Dunstan’s picture is missing, and his name is spelled incorrectly; we’re not sure about the latter issue, but we’re guessing the picture omission’s an attempt to shore up the book sales. Hopefully we can get a corrected cover proof online soon.
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