Intro - CSS

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets

What is CSS?

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a supplementary extension to HTML allowing web designers to style specific elements on their pages and throughout their site. CSS defines the “style” of a website--elements like typography, color, spacing, positioning, etc. HTML can be thought of as the content or structure with an organization of elements (tags) and CSS applies the style or formatting.

Why use CSS?

1. It is the standard for styling web pages.
2. Faster loading for your webpages: less code and smaller pages.
3. Separates design from content:
   1. The designer has the ability to control the appearance of an entire site by only modifying a single file. If he or she decides later to change the font color of all the menus in the site, it can often be done in one step.
   2. Allows content owners to worry about creating and managing content while leaving design to the domain of skilled designers.
4. <font> elements have been obsoleted, though through HTML’s backwards compatibility, they will continue to be supported by browsers for the forseeable future.

How CSS Works

CSS is applied to an existing HTML web document—both working in tandem to display web pages.