The current market for CSS books seems to fall into two categories: technical treatises that cover CSS in a structured fashion, and cookbooks aimed at designers who have already mastered the basic principles of CSS. What’s missing is a book that enables beginners to start improving the look of their websites without first needing to wade through dense explanations of technical details. This book aims to fill that gap by using hands-on tutorials, building up knowledge of CSS gradually. A similar approach is taken by "Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML" (competing title #2, on which I was the main technical reviewer). However, "Getting StartED with CSS" will distinguish itself by providing reference sections in each chapter, so the reader will be able to go back later to find important details without needing to scour through the tutorial steps.

"Getting StartED with CSS" will help readers avoid the common beginner’s mistake of over-reliance on classes by teaching them first how to redefine the look of HTML tags. Classes and other selectors will be introduced only at a later stage, after the basic concepts of defining properties and understanding the cascade have been thoroughly covered. Emphasis will also be placed on avoiding unnecessary duplication of properties (e.g., using the font-family in every style rule). Readers will be taught not only the rules of CSS, but how to use CSS efficiently.