CSS Book Review (CSS Visual Dictionary PDF)

Let's Face It Most CSS Books Won't Be Read

Truth is nobody reads large coding books (as much as they should.) Most css books, or any other thick coding books sit on our desks collecting dust. We put them on shelves together with other books and pride ourselves on being owners of many popular books.

Coding books are collected as if they are idols. They are symbolic of validating our interests, that assist us on our learning journey, regardless of whether we are actually going to read them from cover to cover.

But CSS visual dictionary is a very different css book among many. I'm not saying it's best, or better than most. Only that it's different and will appeal to a specific group of people -- visual learners. But it completely excels in that genre.

Why It's Worth Getting CSS Visual Dictionary

Unlike many other CSS books, the visual dictionary, as the title suggests, takes an alternative approach to CSS - by explaining CSS Grid, Flex, Animations and many other common features of CSS language by matching source code and brief explanations with an image of results produced by CSS property and value combinations.

Learning by Sight or Visual Communication for Speed-Learners

What I love about visual dictionary is that it isn't just another css book that was quickly slapped together with some images. Almost every diagram in this book has educational value. But that's not everything.

These aren't just diagrams. They were specifically designed to communicate visually.

Each and every diagram teaches by simply looking at them. Just look at this example of a diagram of CSS selectors taken from page 31:

The entire book is full of this type of content. Just by browsing alone you end up learning a lot of stuff.

Why do I think this is the right approach to learning CSS? CSS is a visual language. The effect of its properties modifies the appearance of your HTML layout visually every time you refresh the browser.

Instead of saving and resaving your CSS code in your favorite IDE, and refreshing the page hundreds of times just to see the results, you can browse through this book without having to do that, and to the same effect learn what most CSS properties do.

This is a huge time saver especially if you're learning CSS for the first time.

Pros

This CSS book contains visual diagram for all CSS propeties. That's right! 224 diagrams explaining entire scope of CSS language. Covers CSS animation visually.

Cons

As a CSS book that claims to be a visual dictionary, it's unfortunate that the 2nd edition of the paperback still comes in black and white print. (This means if you want to get the most from this css book your best bet is to get it in PDF or Kindle formats.) However, 3rd edition of the paperback (and hardcover planned for 2022) both of which are currently in post-production will make up for this minor inconvenience.

As an owner of the book myself this CSS book remains at top-quality reference and one of the fastest and most efficient way for learning CSS language.

CSS Visual Dictionary - Table of Contents

I completely recommend getting this CSS book! You won't regret it. Currently it can be obtained (not sure if the promotion still exists) together with Octopack 8 Coding Bundle which also includes JavaScript and Python books.