Best Way to Learn CSS

[chantal2012]

I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the best way to learn CSS.  My knowledge in CSS is limited.  I know very basic stuff and would love to learn the in's and out's.  People keep saying to use Firebug which I have but find difficult to use for some reason.  I know W3Schools offers tutorials but I'm pretty sure that they don't cover everything.  Any tips or suggestions?

[Brad Dalton]

http://w3schools.com/css/ is excellent

You can start by learning about the i.d and class selectors which you can relate to in your child theme.

Then you can learn about the different properties and play around on a local installation using your child themes style.css file.

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

[marybaum]

Actually, I have not heard such great things about w3schools from the folks whose podcasts I listen to and whose books I read. Apparently they have taught some inaccurate things from time to time.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE CSS-Tricks from Chris Coyier, and I learned a lot from the book CSS: The Missing Manual.

And when I'm alone in the car, I'm listening to the Shoptalk Show, from Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert. It's a little advanced, but back last summer when I had reason to be driving through the countryside, it was a way better alternative for me than whatever would have been on the radio in rural Illinois. 😉

If you own the Adobe Creative Suite, I was actually forced to learn by using Dreamweaver, back in 2007, when they threw Adobe GoLive out and put Dreamweaver in. I write in it to this day.

Chantal, I, too, am not crazy about Firebug - takes too long to get to the element I'm trying to style. I much prefer the built-in inspectors in Chrome and Firefox - accessible when you hit Cmd (Ctrl) - Opt(Alt) - I. These days, the Chrome inspector actually shows faint gridlines radiating from the element I've selected to a ruler that runs down the top and left of the browser window, so I can be sure I'm inspecting the right thing.

One thing is critical, though, as you Google around for learning tools: Check the dates. There's a lot of old information out there. I think you don't want to look at much of anything older than 2011, or you'll get the wrong idea about type, particularly. Webfonts are not new and experimental; they're mainstream, and anything you see that tells you you have to stick to the five type families that come on every Windows machines is, at this point, just plain wrong.

I don't believe you have to use browser prefixes on box shadows and corner radii unless your target audiences are people you know to have old machines and old browsers - federal agencies, the very rich (I am NOT kidding ... ), much of Corporate America (One midsize company I know of actually has ALL WP sites blocked as social media!) ... you get the idea.

Hope this all helps.

 

Mary Baum

http://wpstl-videos.org

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Sharing the good news about the wonders of modern CSS and the split-step. Either one should get you moving fast. 😀

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