While flowing text around images is certainly nothing new, with CSS you can float any element, from images to paragraphs to lists. In this practical guide, author Eric Meyer reveals some interesting—and surprising—ways to use CSS floats in your web design, including the latest capability to flow content past non-rectangular float shapes.

Short and sweet, this book is an excerpt from the upcoming fourth edition of CSS: The Definitive Guide. When you purchase either the print or the ebook edition of CSS Floating, you'll receive a discount on the entire Definitive Guide once it's released. Why wait? Learn how to bring life to your web pages now.

• Learn the characteristics of floated elements, and CSS rules for using them
• Be aware of certain rule exceptions when applying floats to your design, including the use of negative margins
• Use the clear property to prevent floats from affecting elements in the next section of the document
• Create floating boxes in non-rectangular shapes, including rounded corners, circles, ellipses, and even polygons
• Define float shapes with transparent or opaque images

Eric A. Meyer is the author of the critically acclaimed online tutorial Introduction to HTML, as well as some other semi-popular Web pages. He is a member of the CSS&FP Working Group and the author of Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide.