I've been tinkering with CSS before. Reading updates from A List Apart several years back (2001), I concluded from the author's own admissions on the readiness of CSS for browsers, that it was too much work for this visual designer to digest. I'd rather spend my time in other areas of interaction.

Several years, and more compliant browsers later, it was time to get finally pick up CSS. I am also totally broke right now (see news). While I waited for the return of: Holzschlag, Molly. Cascading Style Sheets, The Designer's Edge at my local library, I decided to read the CSS2 specification from W3.org. It is a good resource and worth the reading if you're already familiar with HTML. If not, it is written in basic HTML and will put you down to sleep.

Molly's book arrived at the library. CSSTDE is still a bit of work for the novice, but easier and a better read then the online spec. Again, there still remains a requirement to understand the basic concepts of web pages. The layout section was inadequate. There were only a few examples focusing on literally the simplest of layouts. The problem is they miss the strangest details of creating layouts when combining various layout techniques.

You can read explanations such as this, on positioning, giving an accurate description of how positioning works in CSS2. The trouble occurs when you try to apply these to a layout. Then layouts shift and the parts float and crash all over the browser. Try back next month and I'll tell you some secrets of how they go together.