CSS Animations and Transitions for the Modern Web 1st Edition

I have been taking free courses through Microsoft virtual academy and was hoping to learn some new techniques with this book. Unfortunately I found that there wasn't a lot of new information. I was really hoping for more in depth examples. However had I come at the book with fresh eyes, and no prior knowledge of CSS capabilities these days it would definitely be a great resource! The books topic organization flow is also five stars in my opinion,

This is a good book. I am still new in animation but this book has certainly removed me from 'darkness'. Thnx.

8 stars for the author, Steven Bradley, negative-7 stars for the publisher, Pearson Education, which includes the imprints Peachpit (this book) and Adobe Press. Informit.com handles web distribution of their ebooks if you don't buy it directly from Amazon (I recommend you purchase from Amazon if you need the Kindle format).The content of the book is excellent. The topic is fairly small in scope, but it was precisely what I was looking for. I'm not and have never been a professional web designer, but I am responsible for 2 small static websites. They were both put up years ago, and have gotten pretty stale, so I wanted to freshen them up, but I need some inspiration. I also need to brush up my skills. I got both out of this book. Don't get me wrong, if you're just starting out, this isn't the book for you (yet -- but come back when you get that under your belt!). But if you have the basic skills, this book is perfect. I should also mention I was a programmer in a previous life, so code doesn't scare me and I already have the mind set to debug my own code.Because of the small scope, he's able to dive in pretty thoroughly. He devotes a chapter each to transforms, transitions, and animations, how they work, and exercises to work through. Then having laid the groundwork, he provides a wonderful context for them by laying out Disney's rules of animation. Finally, a few chapters covering the more realistic needs that web designers actually face, such as sliding sidebars and so forth, perfect for the world of multiple devices and 'media-queries' that any web designer now faces.What really pleased me about this book is that his writing style is not only very straight-forward, it's very readable. Too many technical books these days are written with too many boilerplate phrases thrown in. For example, instead of "open the file 'example 4_8'" you get "Go to your main menu and choose file > open. Then in the dialog that opens, in the textbox for file, type in 'example 2_8' (without the quote marks)". That's fine in the first chapter, but all the way through the book?!? The other thing I've found is that sometimes the author bends over backwards to keep it friendly by cracking jokes, which, again, is fine early in a book, but wears thin about halfway through. Just stick to your content! And Steven Bradley does that admirably well. In an e-mail exchange with the author, I mentioned how well he writes. He replied that he just writes the way he'd like to be talked to. Sorry, but it's more than that; this man has a gift for writing technical books.What pleased me the most was that after working through the examples in the book, I finally started to get some inspiration about some ideas for the websites I need to work on.Now for the publisher. I bought the ebook version of this book directly from Pearson rather than Amazon because they offered a steep, short-term discount. In the introduction, Mr. Bradley tells you how to get the exercises for the book by registering the book at Peachpit. This takes you to the informit.com website of Pearson, and lists all the books you've registered with them, and is supposed to have links associated with each book where downloads are available with the book. No link. I sent an e-mail to customer service on 1/21/2015 stating the relevant info about the book and that the download is missing. As it happens I've run into this problem before with this publisher, so I cc'd the author on the e-mail. I got a very quick response from the author, promising if the publisher was not responsive, he would send them to me directly. Two days later I got a reply from Informit Customer Service informing me once I let them know what bonus content I was looking for, they'd be back in contact with me! I was speechless! Needless to say, the author sent me the files immediately. But to cut this sad saga short, the link was finally posted February 10th, 20 days after I first contacted them. I finished the book and all the exercises before then! You can find plenty of other instances of this issue of mssing downloads from this particular publisher in other reviews on Amazon of other books by Peachpit and Adobe Press.I believe this issue should be resolved by now for all purchasers of the book, so don't hesitate to buy it on the basis of the second half of this review, but if it's not, please add a comment to this review!

I have read many computing books and I can say this is an excellent introduction to the topic. Topics are presented clearly, with concepts building on each other in a logical manner. The author does not avoid the matrix algebra underpinnings of animation, which allows the reader who makes the effort to undertake even the most complex tasks. If you are undertaking a web design and expect to use CSS animation or transitions, I think you found your guide.