Three-column floated layout

[eliot_ness]

I’m building a page based on the tutorial code that goes along with the book "CSS Mastery" by Andy Budd from friendsofed.
It is based on the Three-column floated layout on page 140. The CSS code has this bit;

/* Add some padding============= */

#mainNav, #secondaryContent {
padding-top: 20px;
padding-bottom: 20px;
}

#mainNav *, #secondaryContent * {
padding-left: 20px;
padding-right: 20px;
}

#mainNav * *, #secondaryContent * * {
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
}

I don’t understand what this is doing, and the book contains no explanation of it that I can find. If I remove it I can’t make the page look right. I know right now you’re thinking — well leave it in you idiot — and I certainly don’t mind doing that, but I would like to understand what its function is.

I tried going to the source and posted this question on the forum at friendsofed but got no response. CSS-Tricks is one of my top 5 places for learning web design so I hope someone here can help me out.

[eliot_ness]

I guess I need to be more explicit.

I understand the concept of the box model, and thus, the first segment of code. What I don’t understand is the following two sections, making use of the universal selector. If someone could explain that I would appreciate it.

[Author]

Posts