What is it?
- Formatting information about text in various HTML tags. Example:
Make all <H1> information green and in a specific font
- A way to improve typographic control through type, margin settings
and other attributes
- "Officially" referred to as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- Most browsers do not support at the present time
- Still a working draft at the World Wide Web organization
- This page uses the same style sheet as the page you are looking
at now: Sample Page
What does "Cascading" mean
- Styles can be applied in several ways:
- Using a style sheet that is shared by more than one document
- Using a style block in the <HEAD> section of the HTML document
- Modifying a specific tag in the document with the STYLE attribute
- Applying a user defined style sheet to documents (not currently
available
- "Cascading" describes how the above methods will work to affect a
document when more than one of them is used in the document
What are the pros and cons?
Benefits
- Cascading Style Sheets will provide flexibility and control in
document formatting that are not currently available
- While other schemes to control formatting have been proposed,
this seems to be the scheme most likely to be adopted as a
standard in the near future
- The external style sheet lets you change many sheets at once
without the need to modify the sheets individually
Disadvantages
- The Cascading Style Sheet standard is still under development
at the World Wide Web organization
- Very few browers currently support it
Does it require server or client software?
Yes. It requires a browser capable of recognizing and interpreting
the style tags.
Can you use it with DU's central Web server?
Yes.
Technical Discussion
What do you need to create style sheets?
- A text editor
- A browser capable of recognizing style tags (Microsoft Explorer 3.0)
Links to examples, useful tools and information
World Wide Web Working
Draft on Cascading Style Sheets The standard as it exists today.
Includes explanations and examples for the various tags.
Microsoft Typography CSS Info Information and examples of the use of style tags.
Links to other sites. Includes a link to "A User's Guide to Style Sheets",
a tutorial with examples.
Samples and Examples from Microsoft Examples of the typographic control styles
can provide.
Return to Lesson Plan
Revised November 19, 1996.