The 3 Best CSS Resources Every Designer Should Know

CSS Resources

There are many good resources for learning CSS best practices and cool things to do to the presentation of a web site. I based my choices on the depth of content and quantity of references to further information. I like to see code examples that I can use and change as needed. I also like video tutorials and images as well. Here are my top three picks.

1. http://htmldog.com/
2. http://sixrevisions.com/css/30_css_techniques_examples/
3. http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/css/35-websites-to-teach-you-how-to-use-css-effectively/

HTML Dog

HTML Dog is my first pick because it is written and organized in a simple and easy to understand way. It is addressed to an audience ranging from absolute beginner to advanced web designer. There are no video tutorials on this site but there is an example of web standards code for every situation, accompanied by easy to understand explanations.

The author Patrick Griffiths highlights the importance of web standards and using CSS to achieve accessibility in web pages. "In addition to writting and maintaining the HTML Dog website, he has contributed to resources such as A List Apart and the CSS Zen Garden, and is an active, well renowned member of the web design community." Also on this site is a link to Barnes and Noble where you can buy his book, "HTML Dog: The Best Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS."

Six Revisions

Six Revisions is my second pick because it is like an e-magazine full of "useful information for web developers and designers." On one page, within the site, there is a sub-source of CSS techniques and examples. This article, "30 Exceptional CSS Techniques and Examples," was written by Jacob Gube in 2008; so I'm sure there are plenty of new cool things to see today. However, this is an excellent source-list of links to a variety of websites that offer CSS code with or without written tutorials for just about every CSS example displayed there. This site shows itself to be a good reference source.

Another page on this site, http://sixrevisions.com/category/css/, demonstrates the variability of contributors and sources of cutting-edge CSS techniques that are currently being used. This page is written in blog style where the introduction to each article is cut short by a continue reading button.

1st Web Designer

1st Web Designer is my third pick because it is rich with variety and details. This website, www.1stwebdesigner.com, has more than 20,000 followers and subscribers and offers a blog style array of everything a web designer would want to know, including everything CSS. The site is managed by a small group of people who love to teach what they know, voluntarily.

The one article I want to focus on is called "35 Websites To Teach You How To Use CSS Effectively" and was written in 2009 by Dainis Graveris. I chose to put this site last because this article is a doorway to a gold mine of references to many websites every designer should know about; including Google Videos - CSS, where someone like me can watch video tutorials to their heart's content.

Autobiographical Video of Nathaniel Dodson of Tutvid.com

This section is my piece of video lagniappe. I chose this video because I wanted to share the experience of another digital media "expert." The video I'm sharing here is an autobiography by Nathaniel Dodson of Tutvid.com. He has produced over 200 video tutorials on how to do things in Adobe Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. I recommend his tutorial on making CSS Rounded Corners in Dreamweaver.