What is CSS?
CSS is a way of styling web pages. It can be used to format page design, text, body tags, HTML tags, links that have special attributes, and printable page attributes. While CSS can be used for an individual page, another use of CSS is in external style sheets. Rather than formatting being done for each page in the HTML code for that page, styling with CSS using external style sheets is separate, and each CSS style can be applied like a template to multiple pages. In addition, you can have multiple CSS files for a website.
To find out more about CSS, see the list of Resources at the end of the article.
Benefits for the Viewer
It might not be immediately obvious that there are a number of ways in which CSS would improve the viewers experience. First, because CSS style can apply to any number of pages, it is easier to achieve a consistent, coherent look and feel, making it easy for viewers to “get” the site’s design.
Second, using CSS has a profound effect on the rendering process. While HTML pages render one-by-one, and must be processed individually, CSS allows the browser to cache the style sheets and process subsequent pages using the same style sheet(s) more quickly. Additionally, since HTML table-based layout is one of the main cause of slow-loading pages, by removing this element alone, page rendering is speeded.
Third, CSS provides easy versatility for different size monitors/resolutions, as well as handheld devices, cell phones, printing, etc. All you need to create each set of modifications is a additional CSS document that’s specifically geared for the particular purpose.
Fourth, site accessibility can be easily dealt with as CSS for visually impaired viewers using a screen reader. CSS makes it easy to create invisible elements that guide a screen reader’s navigation of the page in a straight-forward, sensible way.
Benefits for SEO
Now that we’re past the initial history in which the major browsers were not geared for CSS, CSS has benefits for getting your site seen. Because the use of CSS can separate the style and formatting from the content of a page, site design can be achieved without HTML overload, making the spiders’ work easier, moving them to indexable content more readily. In addition, by moving the formatting out of the HTML, the content is moved closer to the top of the page, which SEO specialists claim can dramatically improve page rankings.
Benefits for the Webmaster
From the webmaster’s perspective, there are a number of advantages to CSS. Number one is less time setting up a site with the use of CSS, since a number of tasks can be done once rather than repeatedly.
Second is the time-saving ability to make global updates, fixes, changes, and prospective changes. If your client wants to see the whole site in an aqua and peach color scheme, wants the navigation side bar moved from the left side of the page to the right, and wonders what heads would like in Verdana instead of Arial . . . and then—when you’ve done all that—wants everything changed back to how it was before, you will be enormously happy to be working with CSS rather than HTML.
Resources
