| If you have tried to design a website yourself | | | | support integrated. |
| before, or even just surfed the Internet, you would | | | | Currently, most browsers support style sheets fully. |
| have come across Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). If | | | | There are, however, a few discrepancies in how |
| you are acquainted with Hyper-Text Markup | | | | each browser interprets certain its properties, but |
| Language (HTML), you would definitely have heard of | | | | these have been solved with hacks and workarounds. |
| it, although it is a fairly new web design language to a | | | | For example, Free Classifieds has customized their |
| web designer. In this article I will talk about what is it | | | | layouts with style sheets so that it works seamlessly |
| exactly, a brief history, and the advantages of using | | | | with all major browsers. |
| it. | | | | Advantages of using CSS |
| What is CSS? | | | | CSS layouts are known for their flexibility. It is |
| Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS as it is commonly | | | | possible to make columns and rows adjust |
| known, is a web designing language used to define | | | | accordingly with users' screen resolution. HTML |
| the presentation of a HTML file. It is commonly used | | | | layouts which were previously highly complex are |
| to define, design and control colors, fonts, and layout, | | | | easily achieved with style sheets. It is able to position |
| amongst other HTML page properties. It is used | | | | layers relatively and absolutely. The more HTML tags |
| primarily to distinguish website design from website | | | | present in a page, the longer it takes to load. CSS |
| content, making it easier to control and change the | | | | only contains DIV tags. It is easier to edit the |
| presentation of web pages. | | | | website's design without any trouble; all that is |
| Brief history | | | | needed is to edit the definitions in the style sheet file. |
| Different web browsers made view consistency | | | | This is very much easier than sorting through the |
| difficult; hence the World Wide Consortium (W3C) | | | | entire page's HTML code and finding that small part |
| started working on a new style sheet to control | | | | which must be changed. |
| visual presentation of web content. The first version | | | | Do keep in mind, however, that even though it is not |
| of CSS, CSS1, was completed in 1996. However, only | | | | really difficult to pickup, it still requires some |
| limited support for it was available. In 2000, | | | | understanding and expertise to use it correctly and |
| Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5 was released, with full | | | | customize your website's look to your satisfaction. |