The cover of this book announces the subject and the author’s specific aims to “increase creativity and productivity by using patterns in Web designs while leveraging CSS and (X)HTML best practices.” It’s a mouthful, and is realized in an enormous collection of patterns (over 350) and characterized as “simple.” A download available from two Web locations, providing the hundreds of patterns accessible in the fashion described below, helps enormously. With pattern-based programming examples in one hand, and the book in the other, a reader might well engage in a pleasant experience. I found it all but necessary to proceed in this way, if for no other reason than to cope with the jargon and sometimes curt descriptions of happenings. Bowers’ suggestion to read the book from cover to cover is uninviting, without having first sampled the computer fare.

To make reading easier, each pattern is described on two facing pages in the text: the left page displays realized screens with associated key Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS) code. The right page text (paragraphs) shows headings that identify selections: “Problem,” “Solution,” “Pattern(s),” “Location” (where to use the pattern), “Usage,” “Limitations,” “Tips,” “Example” (comment thereupon), “Variations,” “Advantages,” “Disadvantages,” “Related to,” and “See also.”

To make computing easier, an organization scheme is provided that allows the user to click from the book’s table of contents to each of the chapters, and on to the patterns within (fast access results). The author’s claim that pattern names further promote rapid access would seem to depend on a preceding familiarization experience. Because each pattern and associated CSS file are in a separate directory (folder), the reader/user can run an example provided by the author and then move on to his or her own examples. This leads to mastery and the exploitation of patterns, all while operating within an organized setting.

Some prominent claims about the book are worth noting: it is a solutions manual, but is short of being a cookbook because more is implied. The usable CSS features have been researched and combined with HTML, resulting in reusable patterns. Moreover, the patterns are workable for all major Web browsers. Indeed, opportunities to go further into great pattern schemes were at times rejected by Bowers because of this constraint. As a positive, one will not waste time reading about things that don’t work. Finally, those who learn by example are likely to enjoy this book.

One could continue with another half-dozen claims, among the most interesting being those that the author identifies as innovations. For example, his construction of CSS builds on six basic (box) models, whereas CSS, in its official documentations, espouses a single model. The six models promote outcome predictability, since each box type behaves in its own way, in regard to the elements about it (text and other boxes) and how it is positioned vertically and horizontally. The six-box idea allows for clear recognition of three box model extents, three basic box placements, and a dozen “automated techniques built into browsers” (for laying out table columns and more).

The book, aimed at conventions governing pattern use, draws attention to the basics: elements (such as text, blocks, lists, parents, and children); selectors (the “bridge” between CSS and HTML, over these element types and properties); and, values such as pixel and percentage. An example of a convention is when all upper-case letters signify a need for replacement at pattern-employment time. More widespread use of this convention, with guidance on choices, would be welcome. Perhaps coordinated with this might be suggestions for experimentation.

Some cautions have appeared above; others might be helpful. The book’s approach is not easy to comprehend without the reader expending much time and effort. There are chapters near the book’s end where pattern combinations are the focus, but, still, most of the combining is left to the reader/user. It is assumed that the reader has prior exposure to HTML and CSS; at times, the book requires more than exposure, specifically HTML and CSS experience. A potential difficulty is the volume of material (over 350 units). Moreover, solving the same problem in various ways (for example, in elaborating combinations) adds complexity. Temporality of the solutions (HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.1, and CSS 2.1) may be somewhat confounding, as what is done today may seem difficult to place relative to yesterday’s and tomorrow’s doings. However, one cannot rightly fault Bowers for avoiding risks in future projections. Nevertheless, one muses that any author who thinks broadly and deeply about a subject may hope to affect the future.

Despite cautions and reservations, I, in what I have been able to verify (though certainly not all the claims), believe the author has accomplished what he set out to do, and deserves a compliment for having done so.