I’ve already written a book and been pregnant, and in some ways they’re very similar experiences. (Besides the fact that they both take 9 months. Seriously, it seems like every web design author I know took about 9 months to write his or her book. Weird, huh?) You get yourself into the situation on purpose, but somewhere through you ask yourself why you’re putting yourself through so much misery. But you’re excited, and you deal with all of the discomfort and stress, and at the end there’s this awesome creation you have to show for all your work. And you say, that was great, really glad I did that, don’t want to do it again any time soon. But as time goes by you forget, and you tell yourself it wasn’t so bad, and you start thinking you want to do it again.
So, I’m not pregnant again, but I am working on my second book. And I’m not even miserable! It’s called Stunning CSS3: A Project-based Guide to the Latest in CSS. “Project-based” means each chapter is its own little standalone project, where I guide you step by step through creating a web component or page with cool but practical CSS3 techniques. (Kind of like Bulletproof Web Design or Handcrafted CSS.) It should be available some time this fall. It’s being published by Peachpit/New Riders, the same people who did my book Flexible Web Design. I had a great experience working with them and they put out great books, so I’m happy to be working with them again.
If you want a reminder about the book when it’s released, sign up on the book’s web site at www.stunningcss3.com. I won’t spam you, I promise. That web site will also be the place where example files, bonus materials, and the like are housed once they’re available. In the meantime, you can go there to learn a bit more about what the book will cover.
Of course, I had to add lots of CSS3 effects to the Stunning CSS3 site. Plus, it’s written in HTML5, and the layout is flexible too (elastic, to be precise). Go view source and enjoy. It’s not going to look the same in every browser, but if you see something that you think is just plain wrong or broken, shoot me a note and let me know.
Ooh, the site looks great.
The circle at the top has an odd glitch, though, in Chrome 4 on Windows XP. The Webkit rotation shows the white corner of the box, even though it should be hidden by the border-radius. (Does border-radius just hide things, instead of drawing it curved?)
Probably nothing you can do about it, at any rate.
Thanks Michael. Yes, I know about the glitch in Chrome. I don’t know of any way to fix it, but I’m not too concerned about it. Weird, though, huh?
The circle at the top has an odd glitch, though, in Chrome 4 on Windows XP. The Webkit rotation shows the white corner of the box, even though it should be hidden by the border-radius. (Does border-radius just hide things, instead of drawing it curved?)
+1
Ooh, Chrome 5 is much better. No more glitching.
The CSS3 Solar System everyone’s been mentioning works without glitches, now, too.
I guess I haven’t talked to many other authors about their expereinces, but Principles of Beautiful Web Design took almost exactly 9 months as well. Definitely weird. Best of luck with the writing!
Yeah, so weird! This one is on track to be done much more quickly than 9 months, thankfully.
Congratulations on your new book. It looks very promising. Let me know if you need help promoting it.