What I’ve Learned So Far

With Apress’s Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns:

• A design pattern consists of four elements: pattern name, problem, solution, and tradeoffs.
• Cascade order is determined by selector priority, then number of selectors ordered by priority, then location groups, then location level, and finally listing order.
• To simplify the cascade, minimise the number of stylesheets linked or imported, and sort the selectors by importance.
• Use baseline stylesheets to reset styles created by the browser.
• A good HTML structure is important as it provides the basis for the CSS selectors. HTML or XHTML can be validated to ensure that the document is valid.
• The safest MIME type to use for XHTML is text/html.
• <!DOCTYPE> must be the first element in a document; otherwise Internet Explorer 6 will render in Quirks mode, which does not follow CSS standards.
• Use conditional stylesheets instead of hacks to target Internet Explorer 6/7.
• Block elements should not be siblings with inline elements. Do not put content in between blocks; rather, content must be inside a terminal block at all times.

Decided to forgo CSS: The Definitive Guide as I found it to be a beginner’s book. The other book I’m reading in conjunction with Design Patterns is CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions.

I will be writing my notes in this blog so that I can keep track whether I’m learning anything!!