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Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) work on the
same premise as style sheets in print layout software
programs: they allow you to manage the structure of the site
separately from content. Text styles and content can be
modified independently from each other, allowing developers
to update web sites more efficiently. CSS enables you to
improve the appearance of your site, and can be created with
the same simple text editors as html. "Cascading" refers to
a system of preferences for managing style conflicts. A
conflict can occur, for example, when a user's browser
preferences indicate text to be displayed in one font, while
an incoming document style sheet calls for a different font.
The cascade preferences will ensure the conflict is resolved
and pages can be displayed.
Cascading Style Sheets give designers
additional control over typographic features such as line
spacing, margin indents, and font selection. You can specify
the position of elements using CSS rather than the more
memory-intensive transparent GIFs. This allows your files to
be smaller and to be opened more quickly by browsers.
When
appropriate, define styles globally
-
Styles applied globally affect the
entire web site; style rules should be provided in
independent text files which are linked to or imported
into multiple html files.
-
Styles applied locally affect only a
single file, and the style rules are stored in the top of
the html file.
-
In-line styles are specified within the
body of the document content, and affect only individual
text elements. Use them only when absolutely necessary,
since they are inefficient and hard to maintain.
Your system of Cascading Style Sheets
will work best when you assign styles at the highest
appropriate level. If you apply a style sheet globally, you
need to apply it only once. If you apply a style locally
when it should be applied globally, you will need to place
the code in more than one file. Also, if you apply styles
globally, you can more easily make revisions to the layout
of your entire site.
Whenever possible, use style sheets to position elements
Using style sheets to define the
placement of elements is more efficient and manageable than
using absolute positioning. Using style sheets to position
elements gives you more control and consistency. Absolute
positioning gives you control on a specific page but is less
efficient and harder to maintain.
Use
inheritance to propagate styles in CSS
Cascading Style Sheets employ a system of
inheritance, in which the lower-level or child styles
inherit properties from higher-level or parent styles. To
produce an efficient style sheet system on a project, you
should analyze your layout plan to see what features certain
styles share with other features, and then decide where in
the inheritance scheme every text formatting specification
should take place
Use
absolute and relative style specifications
To avoid manual and tedious adjustments
to styles, take advantage of absolute and relative style
specifications. For example, assume you use an absolute
setting for the body text, such as "BODY {font-size: 10pt}"
and a relative style for a level two heading, such as "H2
{font size: 80%}". If you later change the size of "BODY" to
12 pt., the H2 style will automatically make itself larger,
preserving the 80% size relationship.
When
specifying fonts, provide the desired font, an alternate
font, and a default font
The cascading system works by making
choices and compromises among groups of options. For the
system to work properly, alternate font specifications
should be provided within the style sheets. For example, you
could have a style sheet which states "BODY {font-family:
Officina, Arial, sans-serif}." This will cause users to see
Officina if they have it, Arial if they don't have Officina,
and whatever sans-serif font is alphabetically at the top of
their own font list if they have neither Officina or Arial.
(The last font specification is a default one, which is not
a specific font but rather a class of fonts).
Use
rule exceptions with caution
Since the keyword !important will
override a users' settings, use it with extreme caution. In
general, you want your users to have control over their
settings. For instance, people with impaired vision might
not be able to read any of your text if you use !important
to require them to read ten point font.
Define
a clear policy for the entire team to follow
 A
system of Cascading Style Sheets can become complex,
particularly on a large site. Make it easy for other people
to understand how your system works so they can make any
subsequent changes in an integrated manner. Before adding a
style sheet to an existing site, make sure you understand
the existing style sheet formatting policy. | |
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