| It has been almost ten years since CSS was first | | | | But just when website owners were resigned to the |
| introduced to the World Wide Web and till today, | | | | fact of having to cope with bloated HTML code on |
| Web developers and designers have not ceased to | | | | their sites, CSS presents itself with aplomb. Though it |
| sing its praises. CSS, which stands for Cascading Style | | | | made its grand entrance onto the World Wide Web |
| Sheets, is a stylesheet language which has been sort | | | | in 1996, CSS is only now starting to be recognized by |
| of a revelation for both, Web developers and | | | | the masses as a necessary element of any Web |
| designers alike. The reason for this is apparent - CSS | | | | design process. Here's why. |
| has made Web design so much simpler by separating | | | | CSS removes the presentational markup burden that |
| document structure from style. A simple process | | | | HTML had to carry and allows HTML to perform |
| nonetheless, but the benefits reaped are profound, | | | | what it does best - structural markup. So, what CSS |
| as you'll soon see. | | | | does is create a much richer document appearance |
| As a stylesheet language, CSS requires a document | | | | by separating presentation and structure. This is a |
| written in markup language to perform its tasks. The | | | | sample of what CSS is capable of: |
| best known markup language today is HTML, short | | | | - Allows you to define the color on text |
| for HyperText Markup Language. Almost everybody | | | | - Allows you to define the color of any element |
| who has ever used the Internet has heard of HTML, | | | | - Gives you control over spacing of elements |
| even if they aren't professional Web designers. Every | | | | - Allows you to create borders around elements |
| webpage is powered by this language and variants of | | | | - Gives you control over the presentational style of |
| it. | | | | texts. You can very easily capitalize, italicize, bold, |
| But, if you had been an early adopter of the Web | | | | underline, or space texts as you see fit. |
| back in the early 90s, you can attest to the fact that | | | | Perhaps the most telling contribution of CSS is the |
| HTML was really bare-boned. Reason being, it was | | | | amount of time it saves a Web designer. Where in |
| originally conceived to describe only parts of a | | | | HTML, a Web designer had to explicitly describe the |
| document and had very little concern for appearance | | | | presentational attributes, often repeatedly throughout |
| and presentation. Then came Mosaic and HTML was | | | | the document, CSS only requires a separate |
| forced to evolve into something more than just a | | | | stylesheet. This stylesheet acts as the centralized |
| structural markup language due to the increasing | | | | command center for the entire document's styles. |
| demands for better web presentations. | | | | This also makes it extremely easy for a website |
| Web developers and designers were clamoring for | | | | owner to make changes to his or her site without |
| HTML to contribute more functionality like boldfacing | | | | having to trouble the designer for a simple tweak in |
| and italicizing texts, something HTML wasn't equipped | | | | heading color. |
| to do. But that didn't stop HTML from introducing | | | | This is also a huge advantage for website owners |
| new elements like and into its language in an attempt | | | | who manage large content-based sites of over a |
| to satisfy the masses. The results as expected, | | | | thousand pages. Because this single stylesheet can be |
| were frustrating. | | | | applied to multiple pages simply by linking it, a website |
| Websites were being built with extraneous HTML | | | | owner can achieve a very consistent look throughout |
| elements at the expense of useful content, which | | | | the website and make changes to thousands of |
| presented a few considerable issues, mainly, | | | | pages by editing only a single line on the stylesheet. |
| unstructured Web pages. Unstructured Web pages | | | | Without CSS, this process would have necessitated a |
| made and still make content indexing in search | | | | visit to every single one of those thousand or more |
| engines very grueling and this was certainly | | | | pages to make that simple edit. Now you see why |
| something that Web businesses seeking coveted high | | | | Web designers are so fond of CSS. |
| search engine rankings were concerned about. | | | | This element of a single stylesheet has also allowed |
| What may appear to be an innocuous tag used in | | | | websites to become much smaller in size, having |
| place of a H1 tag for page titles, can have disastrous | | | | been stripped of all that bloated code that HTML |
| consequences as far as search engine optimization is | | | | was once guilty of serving. Lighter weight websites |
| concerned. This can mean the difference between | | | | mean faster download and loading speeds for Web |
| attaining the number one spot on Google's front | | | | users, which can only mean that it'll only be a matter |
| page, or not being indexed at all, something that in | | | | of time before they too join in with Web designers in |
| today's new economics of commerce, can either | | | | the song of praise for CSS. |
| make or break a business. | | | | |