Newbie 101 Cascading Style Sheets
What exactly is a CSS file, and why are they so popular?

Tell me more about Cascading Style Sheet Tags!

Cascading style sheets are a collection of style rules that define how the elements and tags in an HTML page should be displayed by a browser. The rules give users control over the elements beyond that offered by standard HTML. Margins, multiple background colors, borders, and font style are just a few aspects of a Web page that can be defined and manipulated using style sheets. Style sheets are a set of rules for a Web Page.

There are several ways to include style sheet information in your Web pages. You can write it directly into the page, using the <STYLE> _ </STYLE> tags, or link to externally stored style sheets using the <LINK> tag. A complete rundown on <STYLE>_</STYLE> can be found at the W3 website.

To use the <LINK> tag, use the following code. <LINK REL=STYLESHEET HREF="stylesheetname">

It's really that simple. Be sure to include REL=STYLESHEET so the browser will know the linked document is a style sheet and treat it accordingly. One of the nicest features of HTML is, no matter what kind of style sheet you use, whether internal or external, the rule syntax is the same.!

<STYLE>...</STYLE>
What does this CSS Style information mean to me?

Provides a means to include rendering and display information using style sheet notation. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are currently the most widely supported standard, and all references of style sheets refer to CSS1 & CSS2. Information in the <STYLE> tag works with the clients default configuration as well as any externally referenced style sheets to provide an overall set of style rules for a given Web page.

ATTRIBUTES: Type="text"
Specifies the type of the style sheet in use. The type for CSS sheets is text/css.

Media=screen | print | projection | braille | speech | all
Identifies the ideal environment for the Web page to be conveyed in. The default is all, and screen will be used in most cases because Web pages are most often viewed on a computer screen. However, pages designed for presentations would use the project value, while those meant to be read by a text-to-speech reader would use the speech value. Currently, this attribute provides information only an does not affect the way the style sheet is interpreted or the page rendered. You may include more than one media type, each separated by commas.

Style Sheet Syntax:
As we mentioned style sheets are composed of rules. Style rules take the following format:

H3 {font-face: Garamond}

Breaking down the preceding example, as style rule has two parts.

• Selector: Written to the left of the curly braces, the selector specifies the HTML element that will be used to invoke the style rule. In the example, H3 is the selector.
• Declaration: Written within the curly braces, the declaration specifies how the selector should be rendered. In the example, {font-face: Garamond} is the declaration. A declaration has two parts.
• The Property: specifies which aspect of the HTML element should be modified. In the example, font-face is the property.
• The Value: specifies how the property should be rendered. In the example Garamond is the value.
  

Dreamweaver CS3 Video Tutorials on CSS Style Sheets
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