| In cascading style sheets you can specify how your | | | | define FONT statements in the body of my pages |
| web pages will be presented on the screen by simply | | | | any more. |
| predefining page elements such as fonts, headers | | | | Wow, that saved me a lot of coding! Big advantage |
| and links. | | | | (no. 2). |
| You can add these predefined elements in the | | | | AND ..... |
| head-section of your pages, but more interesting is | | | | I had fewer errors in my HTML, because I didn't |
| to use them in a single .css file and include that file in | | | | have to close that awkward FONT tag (at the |
| every page on your site. | | | | wrong place). Big advantage (no. 2). |
| All you have to do is include in your HTML header. | | | | When I discovered this, I immediately began adding |
| (the path in the href must point to the place where | | | | definitions for other tags like H1, H2, linktext (not |
| your .css file is stored) | | | | visited, visited and hover) and special colors in text. |
| There are two main benefits to using css sheets in a | | | | If I want to change the look of my H1-header, all I |
| separate file: | | | | have to do is change the specs in my style sheet |
| 1. more flexibility; only one (1) file to update | | | | and presto ....the H1 is changed across my whole site. |
| 2. less HTML coding and easy replacement of | | | | How's that for flexibility? Big advantage (no. 1). |
| deprecated HTML. | | | | When I once redesigned my site I used HTML |
| I'll explain more of this below. | | | | validators to see how I was doing. To my surprise I |
| First, let me tell you I am NOT a cascading style | | | | found that some HTML commands, the most |
| sheet professional. I just use it. | | | | important one being FONT, were deprecated in |
| If you want to become one, there are great css | | | | HTML 4.0. That means eventually these commands |
| resources and tutorials out there. | | | | will not be used anymore. |
| Just go to mention a few, but there are many more. | | | | So I had to do something. Again, style sheets came |
| Type 'cascading style sheets' in your favorite search | | | | to the rescue. |
| engine and you get plenty of information. | | | | All I had to do was define how my fonts would look |
| But just being a layperson in css emphasizes the | | | | like in my style sheet and I had the problem solved. |
| importance of this web design tool. | | | | Big advantage (no. 2). |
| I started using cascading style sheets in its most | | | | Now I use css to define headers, footers, special |
| elementary form. All you have to do is name the | | | | text colors, special fonts and font sizes, special links |
| page element that you are going to specify and add | | | | etcetera. If I ever discover I need some extra |
| its specifications in curly brackets. | | | | lay-out or style, I just add one line to my .css file. |
| Here's my first css file:body { font-family: Arial, | | | | It's so easy! |
| Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: | | | | Try it. |
| normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; | | | | Start using style sheets. |
| text-decoration: none; color: #000000 } | | | | You're more flexible and it will save you lots of time. |
| By simply saving this code in a style sheet file and | | | | Wish you success. |
| including it in my webpages I suddenly didn't have to | | | | |