10 Resources for When You Need Help with CSS

From time-to-time there will probably be situations where you could use some help or guidance with CSS during your web design and development work. While there are plenty of great CSS resources available, I would like to point out 10 that can be very helpful resources in these situations.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is sort of a combination of social media and a forum. It is a niche specific site focused on programming and development (CSS is just one of the topics being discussed). The purpose of Stack Overflow is to ask and provide answers to questions for programmers. Anyone can post a question (you don’t even have to create an account) and then other members will be able to provide answers to your questions. Other users can then vote up or down on the various answers so it’s easy for everyone to identify the best ones.

CSS-Discuss.org

CSS-Discuss is a large and very active mailing list for CSS-related issues. You can either join the list to post and answer questions, you can browse through the archives in search of a particular issue, or you can browse through the wiki and get involved there if you have something to contribute.

CSS Cheat Sheet

The CSS Cheat Sheet is a great reference to have on hand in anticipation of those times when a little extra help might be needed. It is a one-page PDF document that includes all selectors and properties.

CSS Shorthand Cheat Sheet

If you’re looking for help in reducing the size and optimizing your css files, the CSS Shorthand Cheat Sheet is an excellent resource. With this one-page PDF document you’ll be able to create more efficient CSS code with shorthand techniques.

Web Developer Add-On

Chris Pedrick’s Web Developer add-on provides a great deal of functionality for your development in general, and CSS is just one of the specific aspects. Using the toolbar, you can do such things as identify all the styles that affect an element, view the CSS source code, see the sizes of block elements, and disable CSS to see how your pages degrade.

Firebug

Firebug is another add-on that puts a great deal of CSS information and resources at your fingertips. With firebug you can edit, debug and monitor CSS, in addition to HTML and JavaScript in any webpage. For anyone working with CSS, Firebug is a great tool to quickly edit and test your code, particularly when you’re experimenting and you need to see how your changes will impact the site.

CSS-Tricks

CSS-Tricks is a popular blog, which many Vandelay Design readers probably subscribe to. At CSS-Tricks Chris Coyier publishes articles and tutorials that cover all kinds of aspects of CSS. The archives contain plenty of posts that will be helpful to anyone looking to learn more about CSS. In addition to Chris’s articles, CSS-Tricks also includes a forum that is pretty active where you can get help.

Using CSS to Do Anything: 50+ Creative Examples and Tutorials

Noupe published a post earlier this year with 50 examples of things you can do with CSS. If you’re looking for some new ideas this is a great resource, and if you’re looking for help on a specific issue, there may be a resource here that is just what you need. Included in the post is help for styling lists, working with forms, footers, image replacement, image sprites, other image techniques, text and link effects, navigation, galleries, drop caps, rounded corners, blockquotes, and more.

CSS Layouts: 40+ Tutorials, Tips, Demos and Best Practices

This is another helpful post from Noupe that focuses on one of the most common problem areas for working with CSS, layouts. If you’re experiencing issues getting a layout to work the way you want it to, most likely there is something here that is just what you need.

Top Reasons Your CSS Columns are Messed Up

Warspire provides help for common issues in dealing with columns and layouts. The post covers the most likely problems and provides the necessary fix, including the code to be used.

Other helpful resources: