[obiwanpallav1]

Being a backend developer, I've always assumed CSS to be magical.

Recently I needed to learn CSS to make my website viewable, so I started with w3schools. But the pace was too slow, and it made me search for other alternatives. A good amount of SEO friendly sites containing the list of best CSS books suggested `CSS In Depth - Keith J. Grant`. With low hopes, I thought to give it a try just for a day but it did not disappoint me. Being a CSS noob I liked the way `Layout` concept was presented. It started with `float` and ended with `grid` with a couple of chapters in between dedicated to `flex` and other techniques. Then it picks up responsive design. The concepts were presented in such a way that it became a responsibility for me to replicate whatever the author has done in the chapters. It was a satisfactory experience.

Afterward, it presents the transition and animation related concepts which I read but I've forgotten because of not using them in day to day work.

https://www.manning.com/books/css-in-depth

[Izkata]

Hmm.. I see chapter 3 is "Mastering the Box Model", which is the part my co-workers really don't understand and seems to be the whole reason they treat CSS as magical. So that definitely sounds like a plus for that book (especially since one of the headers mentions border-box), although I've never read it myself.

From the headers it's not clear if it touches on block vs inline vs inline-block though, nor how margin/border/padding are related to each other (though that could just be mixed in with the border-box section). Is it complete there?

[freedomben]

I can second this and also mention that if you buy it through manning it is DRM free! They also have a "livebook" version that lets you try code right inline with the book. Highly recommend.

[spiralx]

This site which was posted here a while back is great, it's up to date and explains the concepts CSS is based on clearly with examples using Codepen so you get to see both the HTML and CSS as well as the result, plus you can open them in Codepen to edit them yourself. I've been doing CSS for close to a decade and learnt quite a few things from reading through it :)

https://web.dev/learn/css/

This site has a bunch of guides on how to use modern CSS to achieve particular tasks such as button and form control styling or particular layouts:

https://moderncss.dev/