Cascading Style Sheets for Better Web Design

In cascading style sheets you can specify how your web pages will be presented on the screen by simply predefining page elements such as fonts, headers and links.

You can add these predefined elements in the head-section of your pages, but more interesting is to use them in a single .css file and include that file in every page on your site.

All you have to do is include in your HTML header. (the path in the href must point to the place where your .css file is stored)

There are two main benefits to using css sheets in a separate file:

1. more flexibility; only one (1) file to update

2. less HTML coding and easy replacement of deprecated HTML. I'll explain more of this below.

First, let me tell you I am NOT a cascading style sheet professional. I just use it.

If you want to become one, there are great css resources and tutorials out there.

Just go to

http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/learning http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/

to mention a few, but there are many more. Type 'cascading style sheets' in your favorite search engine and you get plenty of information.

But just being a layperson in css emphasizes the importance of this web design tool. I started using cascading style sheets in its most elementary form. All you have to do is name the page element that you are going to specify and add its specifications in curly brackets. Here's my first css file:

body { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; color: #000000 }

By simply saving this code in a style sheet file and including it in my webpages I suddenly didn't have to define FONT statements in the body of my pages any more. Wow, that saved me a lot of coding! Big advantage (no. 2).

AND .....

I had fewer errors in my HTML, because I didn't have to close that awkward FONT tag (at the wrong place). Big advantage (no. 2).

When I discovered this, I immediately began adding definitions for other tags like H1, H2, linktext (not visited, visited and hover) and special colors in text.

If I want to change the look of my H1-header, all I have to do is change the specs in my style sheet and presto .... the H1 is changed across my whole site. How's that for flexibility? Big advantage (no. 1).

When I once redesigned my site I used HTML validators to see how I was doing. To my surprise I found that some HTML commands, the most important one being FONT, were deprecated in HTML 4.0. That means eventually these commands will not be used anymore.

So I had to do something. Again, style sheets came to the rescue. All I had to do was define how my fonts would look like in my style sheet and I had the problem solved. Big advantage (no. 2).

Now I use css to define headers, footers, special text colors, special fonts and font sizes, special links etcetera. If I ever discover I need some extra lay-out or style, I just add one line to my .css file. It's so easy!

Try it. Start using style sheets. You're more flexible and it will save you lots of time.

Wish you success.
Case Stevens

Case Stevens, owner of AnOwnSite Internet Marketing, is experimenting with different marketing techniques, websites, traffic and lead generation. He publishes his experiences in a newsletter featuring understandable, successful low cost Internet marketing techniques, ideas and strategies, articles, news, tips & tricks and interesting (free) downloads.

Subscribe at Affordable Online Strategies

A.V. Club New York

Press Yourself: Lily Tomlin's web-design meltdown A.V. Club New York The whole point of flyers, posters, and publicity photos is to attract attention to yourself and/or your event. ... and more »

Web design whiz kid Lansing State Journal "That was sort of my entrance point into Web design. From there I figured, hey if I could do it for him, I could do it for anybody," Nicholas Chilenko said. ... and more »

The small Stellar Blue Web Design has grown by leaps and bounds in its first ... Appleton Post Crescent Since the beginning of the year, Stellar Blue has won a Rising Star award given by the Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce and purchased the Web design ... and more »

Spencer Web Design gets $25000 loan Bizjournals.com Spencer Web Design, a web design, development and Internet marketing services business in St. Peters, Mo., has been approved for a $25000 small business ... and more »

Columbus Web Design Firm to Host How to WOW! Now Seminar for Small Business I-Newswire.com (press release) mywebWOW!, based in the Short North Arts District of Columbus, Ohio is your affordable small business web design solution. Our Columbus Ohio Website Design ... and more »

JCJC offers Web Design Basics Hattiesburg American Jones County Junior College's Advanced Technology Center is offering a Web Design Basics course using Adobe DreamWeaver CS4. Participants will learn how to ...

Locating A Great South Florida Web Design Service In Miami I-Newswire.com (press release) If you live in Miami, locating a good South Florida web design company to build your website can seem like an impossible task. ...

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Chris Flick Washington City Paper (blog) The first is a comic strip for a tech-based Web site devoted to teaching all about web design. That strip is called CMX Suite and can be read every ...

Web design chennai | Web designing company chennai | Website development ... BigNews.biz (press release) Dmaxcreative offers professional, affordable web design and Web development services in Chennai India. Whether are looking to build your first website or ...

MindSmack.com Awarded the Best Web Design Agencies Ranking by ... Online PR News (press release) bestwebdesignagencies.com, the independent authority on the best web design companies, released the March 2010 rankings of the top web design agencies. ... Hudson Horizons Ranked as the Best Web Development Agency for March 2010 by ...Online PR News (press release) all 2 news articles »