There has been a lot of change in the internet since its early days. What is one of the biggest differences? This is how it looks. Nowadays, the internet looks so good that we can forget what websites are – a collection of files storing text and media content. The goal of modern web design is to make us forget that fact and enjoy the ride. We can thank CSS for that.
CSS is the second most important language for creating online experiences after HTML. Due to advances in front-end web design over the past few decades, user expectations have risen. When a website fails to meet our visual standards, it dampens our experience: At best, we assume that the organization behind the website is lacking. The worst-case scenario is that we leave the page and never return. If content is king, CSS is second.
Therefore, every site owner and web marketer should understand the fundamentals.
What is CSS
A CSS file is a Cascading Style Sheet. The style sheet language describes the format and appearance of a document written in markup. An additional feature of HTML is provided by this language. Generally, it is used in conjunction with HTML to modify the style of web pages and user interfaces.
It also supports plain XML, SVG, and XUL XML documents. Almost all websites use CSS along with HTML and JavaScript to create user interfaces for web applications and mobile applications.
How does CSS work?
CSS uses an English-based syntax with a set of rules that govern it. The markup of the page was the only element intended to be used in HTML, as we’ve said before. The purpose of the description was to merely describe the content. An example would be: <p>This is a paragraph.</p>.
How do you style the paragraph? The CSS syntax structure is pretty straightforward. There is a selector and a declaration block. When you select an element, you declare what you want to do with it. Not too complicated, is it?
However, there are some rules to follow. Don’t worry, the structure rules are pretty straightforward. The selector points to the HTML elements you wish to style. A declaration block consists of one or more declarations separated by semicolons. Each declaration includes two CSS property names and values separated by colons. CSS declarations always end with a semicolon, and declaration blocks are enclosed in curly braces.
How to Write CSS
There are some differences between the syntax of HTML and CSS for those who are familiar with HTML. CSS lists the style rules assigned to HTML elements, an entire HTML document, or even multiple HTML documents rather than page content. The web browser loads the HTML file and processes these rules.
What is a CSS Selector?
CSS rules always begin with selectors. There is a selector that indicates the part of the document where the rule should be applied. When the browser processes CSS code, it uses the selector to “select” the targeted elements and apply styling rules. One or more declarations follow the selector in curly braces.
There are several ways to write a selector. Elements are the most basic CSS selectors. A selector that targets HTML elements by their names (e.g., p, span, div, a) is known as an element selector. An element can also be targeted by its class or id attribute. A class selector is written as a period (.) followed by the name of the class. Hash (#) followed by id name is the id selector.
Types of CSS Selectors
Here are some ways developers might structure CSS in their projects:
1. An external CSS file
It follows the principle that you should separate your content from your presentation. You will have a separate CSS file, or style sheet, for your style. If you wish to use an external style sheet, link to it in the header section of each HTML page.
2.CSS for internal use
Internal CSS is defined within the <style> tag of an HTML document. There is a CSS file separate from the HTML, but it is still part of the same file.
3. An inline CSS stylesheet
Inline CSS involves putting CSS styles directly on HTML elements.
The benefits of CSS
- CSS saves you time because it can be written once and then reused on multiple HTML pages. It is possible to define a style for each HTML element and apply it to as many different Web pages as you want.
- Pages load faster − If you use CSS, you don’t have to write HTML tag attributes every time.
- Write one CSS rule for a tag and apply it to all occurrences of that tag. Less code means faster downloads.
- Easy maintenance − Just change the style of the web pages, and all elements will be updated instantly.
- A CSS stylesheet has a much broader range of attributes than HTML, so you can give your HTML page a much better look than HTML attributes.
- The ability to optimize content for more than one device type is enabled by style sheets. HTML documents can be used to create different versions of a website for handheld devices such as PDAs and cell phones.
- Currently, HTML attributes have been deprecated and CSS has been recommended. Therefore, it would be a good idea for all HTML pages to use CSS so that they will be compatible with future browsers.
History of CSS
A group within the W3C called the CSS Working Group creates and maintains CSS. CSS Working Group documents are called specifications.
It was common for HTML files to include not only markup language and content, but also formatting information and JavaScript in the early days of the World Wide Web (WWW). It made it difficult for writers, readers, and maintainers to write, update, and maintain web pages.
As the web matured, HTML, scripting content, and style information were separated into easy-to-maintain files. Therefore, a modern webpage typically consists of three separate components: a cascading style sheet, a JavaScript file, and an HTML file.
Final Thoughts
By now, you know what CSS is, how it works, how it differs from HTML and JavaScript, and how to use it.
CSS is part of pretty much every website on the web, so it’s a great tool for working on the front end. Web development tutorials will teach you more about the language and how it works.
