“So what is it good for”, you say? One of the easiest uses of the float property is to wrap text around a html block-level element.

You can make an image or even a section on your webpage have text wrap around it. I will show you examples of both.

First, you will need a long paragraph

<div id="post-float-content"><p>This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. </p></div>

Next, you will need the element you want floated.

<span class="post-float-element">This is the html element being floated.</span>

If you want you can also use an image or any other element you want floated. Here is an example.

<img src="#" class="post-float-element" alt="Image Test for Float"  />

Any element you assign the float property to will become a block-level element.

Now put the code together, and you will soon be on your way to text wrapping bliss. For this example, I want my floated element to be near the top. So I will put it outside the paragraph tag. You can put it anywhere you like, even inside the paragraph. But you won’t see any wrapping if you put it at the end of the paragraph. Feel free to experiment until you get what you are looking to achieve.

Now for the CSS.

I’ve added some basic styling to the floated element. So that you can see how the block-level element is behaving inside the paragraph. It should be very apparent what is going on.

.post-float-element{
float:left;
width:100px;
height:50px;
border:1px solid #444;
padding:2px;
background-color:#dedede;
clear:left;
}

Here is the example in full. I hope you’ve enjoyed this basic post about the float property. There will be more to come integrating the float property into other parts of your website.

This is the html element being floated.This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property. This is a paragraph of text to experiment with the float property.

Books

The first book I ever purchased about CSS was very helpful at explaining why you do certain things with CSS.

[asa personal_post]1590596145[/asa]

Another book I have used many times on ways to work around old browsers or weird quirks was helpful in my CSS learning experience.

[asa personal_post]0764579851[/asa]

The book below is a great reference for terminology and rules. A must for those who don’t remember what a :pseudo-element refers to.

[asa personal_post]0596515057[/asa]

Website Links

One of the best CSS example websites out there.

Basic menu designs done in CSS.

Great list of CSS best practices.

CSS layouts done well for almost any situation.

Random Resources

Grid calculator for your layouts.

What you should know about CSS specificity.

An Em to Px calculator.

Books

Some of the best help books I’ve found are written by, Larry Ullman. Here is one of his best.

[asa personal_post]0321336577[/asa]

This was my first PHP book. It’s not the greatest book out there, but if you want full application examples this is the book for you.

[asa personal_post]0764579665[/asa]

This next book isn’t a PHP book, but it is a great resource for learning MySQL. MySQL is free database component that works great with PHP.

[asa personal_post]0672327120[/asa]

Website Links

PHP cookies were something I didn’t learn from a book. Here are a few links that really helped me develop those skills. PHP and cookies. PHP.net documentation.

Here is a great forum, not just for PHP, with lots of questions answered about PHP.

I wanted to learn about REGEXP in PHP, mostly for security verification. Here are two links that helped pave the way. The basics. More advanced methods.

Just a great website with lots of PHP centered tutorials.

PHP.net. Just use it!

Random Resources

Just some good ideas to implement.

Sometimes there are good articles at Digital-Web.com about PHP.

You should at least check out .htaccess.

Great articles at alistapart.com about alot of things, including php.

Books Recommended

Here is the list of books that I researched were really good at the teaching the basics, and had amazing reviews on Amazon.

[asa personal_post]0975240285[/asa]

[asa personal_post]059600916X[/asa]

Online Tutorials

Also, one of the best resources for tutorials is actually asp.net. There are video tutorials from ‘best coding practices’ to ‘integrating AJAX’. You should really check them out if you like video tutorials.