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I’ve been cruising through a new book called “Handcrafted CSS” by Dan Cederholm, proprietor of SimpleBits. The book is concerned with all the new CSS3 and HTML5 coolness and how to implement that coolness into your own designs.

The big difference: This might be the first coding book I’ve read that stresses craftsmanship over simple how-to’s.

While there’s probably not a lot of new information to be found for seasoned designers (and especially for code ninjas), the thing that impresses me most is Dan’s explanations of thought process. He doesn’t simply lay these code snippets out and tell us to start using them. Instead he explains each tactic along with the best situations for success. He offers caveats on which browsers will allow these techniques. He reinforces a progressive mindset of rewarding forward-thinking browsers without affecting the experience of users who don’t (or often can’t) use those hip browsers. He even touches on how to explain to decision-makers that pixel-perfect uniformity across browsers is becoming passe; that embracing some loss of control in the name of better experiences is a better way forward.

I also like that he’s confined a book’s worth of coding techniques into 2 pages of tightly rendered HTML, reinforcing his mantra that simplicity and craftsmanship can be used to great effect in real-world design. He proves that it’s possible to employ every example in the book with subtlety and restraint that won’t overpower design.

So, depending on your level of familiarity with CSS, jQuery and HTML5, you may not be blown away by the actual code, but the thinking behind the code is a very good reason to pick up this book.

Buy it on Amazon.