Smashing CSS: Professional Techniques for Modern Layout

Chapter 7. THE (NEAR) FUTURE

IN THIS CHAPTER, the focus is on what's coming: styling techniques you'll use in the immediate and near-term future. From styling HTML 5 elements to rearranging layout based on display parameters to crazy selection patterns to transforming element layout, these are all techniques that you may use tomorrow, next month, or next year. With partial browser support, they're all on the cutting edge of Web design.

Accordingly, be careful not to get cut! A number of sites can help you figure out the exact syntaxes and patterns you need to use these techniques.

• http://css3please.com/

• http://css3generator.com/

• http://www.westciv.com/tools/gradients/

• http://gradients.glrzad.com/

Furthermore, a number of JavaScript libraries can extend support for advanced CSS back into older browsers, in some cases as far back as IE/Win 5.5. Some are very narrowly focused on certain browser families, whereas others are more broadly meant to allow support in all known browsers. These can be useful in cases where your visitors haven't quite caught up with the times but you don't want them to miss out on all the fun.

• http://css3pie.com/

• http://www.useragentman.com/blog/csssandpaper-a-css3-javascript-library/

• http://www.keithclark.co.uk/labs/ie-css3/

• http://code.google.com/p/ie7-js/ (actually a good deal more powerful than the URL makes it sound)

• http://ecsstender.com/

There are also a good many CSS enhancements available as plug-ins for popular JavaScript libraries such as jQuery. If you're a ...