What is CSS?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets
Styles define how to display HTML elements
Styles were added to HTML 5.0 to solve a problem
External Style Sheets can save a lot of work
External Style Sheets are stored in CSS files
Styles Solved a Big Problem
HTML was never intended to contain tags for formatting a document.
HTML was intended to define the content of a document, like:
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
When tags like <font>, and color attributes were added to the HTML 3.2 specification, it started a
nightmare for web developers. Development of large web sites, where fonts and color information
were added to every single page, became a long and expensive process.
To solve this problem, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created CSS.
In HTML 5.0, all formatting could be removed from the HTML document, and stored in a separate
CSS file.
All browsers support CSS today.
CSS Saves a Lot of Work!
CSS defines HOW HTML elements are to be displayed.
Styles are normally saved in external .css files. External style sheets
enable you to change the appearance and layout of all the pages in a
Web site, just by editing one single file!
CSS Syntax
A CSS rule has two main parts: a selector, and one or more declarations:
The selector is normally the HTML element you want to style.
Each declaration consists of a property and a value.
The property is the style attribute you want to change. Each property has a value.
CSS Example
CSS declarations always ends with a semicolon, and declaration groups
are surrounded by curly brackets:
p {color:red;text-align:center;}
To make the CSS more readable, you can put one declaration on each
line, like this:
Example
p
{
color:red;
text-align:center;
}
CSS Comments
Comments are used to explain your code, and may help you when you edit the source code at a
later date. Comments are ignored by browsers.
A CSS comment begins with "/*", and ends with "*/", like this:
/*This is a comment*/
p
{
text-align:center;
/*This is another comment*/
color:black;
font-family:arial;
}
Examples
The HTML file below links to an external style sheet with the <link>
tag:
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="ex1.css" />
</head>
<body>
<h1>This header is 36 pt</h1>
<h2>This header is blue</h2>
<p>This paragraph has a left margin of 50 pixels</p>
</body>
</html>
This is the style sheet file (ex1.css):
Body
{
background-color:yellow;
}
h1
{
font-size:36pt;
}
h2
{
color:blue;
}
p
{
margin-left:50px;
}
CSS Id and Class
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The id and class Selectors
In addition to setting a style for a HTML element, CSS allows you to specify your own selectors called
"id" and "class".
The id Selector
The id selector is used to specify a style for a single, unique element.
The id selector uses the id attribute of the HTML element, and is defined with a "#".
The style rule below will be applied to the element with id="para1":
Example
#para1
{
text-align:center;
color:red;
}
Do NOT start an ID name with a number! It will not work in Mozilla/Firefox.
The class Selector
The class selector is used to specify a style for a group of elements. Unlike the id selector, the class
selector is most often used on several elements.
This allows you to set a particular style for any HTML elements with the same class.
The class selector uses the HTML class attribute, and is defined with a "."
In the example below, all HTML elements with class="center" will be
center-aligned:
Example
.center {text-align:center;}
You can also specify that only specific HTML elements should be affected by a class.
In the example below, all p elements with class="center" will be
center-aligned:
Example
p.center {text-align:center;}
Do NOT start a class name with a number! This is only supported in Internet Explorer.
When a browser reads a style sheet, it will format the document according to it.
Three Ways to Insert CSS
There are three ways of inserting a style sheet:
External style sheet
Internal style sheet
Inline style
External Style Sheet
An external style sheet is ideal when the style is applied to many
pages. With an external style sheet, you can change the look of an
entire Web site by changing one file. Each page must link to the style
sheet using the <link> tag. The <link> tag goes inside the head
section:
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mystyle.css" />
</head>
An external style sheet can be written in any text editor. The file
should not contain any html tags. Your style sheet should be saved
with a .css extension. An example of a style sheet file is shown below:
hr {color:sienna;}
p {margin-left:20px;}
body {background-image:url("images/back40.gif");}
Do not leave spaces between the property value and the units! "margin-left:20 px" (instead of
"margin-left:20px") will work in IE, but not in Firefox or Opera.
Internal Style Sheet
An internal style sheet should be used when a single document has a
unique style. You define internal styles in the head section of an HTML
page, by using the <style> tag, like this:
<head>
<style type="text/css">
hr {color:sienna;}
p {margin-left:20px;}
body {background-image:url("images/back40.gif");}
</style>
</head>
Inline Styles
An inline style loses many of the advantages of style sheets by mixing content with presentation.
Use this method sparingly!
To use inline styles you use the style attribute in the relevant tag. The
style attribute can contain any CSS property. The example shows how
to change the color and the left margin of a paragraph:
<p style="color:sienna;margin-left:20px">This is a paragraph.</p>
Multiple Style Sheets
If some properties have been set for the same selector in different style sheets, the values will be
inherited from the more specific style sheet.
For example, an external style sheet has these properties for the h3
selector:
h3
{
color:red;
text-align:left;
font-size:8pt;
}
And an internal style sheet has these properties for the h3 selector:
h3
{
text-align:right;
font-size:20pt;
}
If the page with the internal style sheet also links to the external style
sheet the properties for h3 will be:
color:red;
text-align:right;
font-size:20pt;
The color is inherited from the external style sheet and the text-alignment and the font-size is
replaced by the internal style sheet.
Multiple Styles Will Cascade into One
Styles can be specified:
inside an HTML element
inside the head section of an HTML page
in an external CSS file
Tip: Even multiple external style sheets can be referenced inside a single HTML document.
Cascading order
What style will be used when there is more than one style specified for an HTML element?
Generally speaking we can say that all the styles will "cascade" into a new "virtual" style sheet by
the following rules, where number four has the highest priority:
1. Browser default
2. External style sheet
3. Internal style sheet (in the head section)
4. Inline style (inside an HTML element)
So, an inline style (inside an HTML element) has the highest priority, which means that it will
override a style defined inside the <head> tag, or in an external style sheet, or in a browser (a
default value).
Note: If the link to the external style sheet is placed after the internal style sheet in HTML
<head>, the external style sheet will override the internal style sheet!
CSS background properties are used to define the background effects of
an element.
CSS properties used for background effects:
background-color
background-image
background-repeat
background-attachment
background-position
Background Color
The background-color property specifies the background color of an element.
The background color of a page is defined in the body selector:
Example
body {background-color:#b0c4de;}
The background color can be specified by:
name - a color name, like "red"
RGB - an RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)"
Hex - a hex value, like "#ff0000"
In the example below, the h1, p, and div elements have different
background colors:
Example
h1 {background-color:#6495ed;}
p {background-color:#e0ffff;}
div {background-color:#b0c4de;}
Background Image
The background-image property specifies an image to use as the background of an element.
By default, the image is repeated so it covers the entire element.
The background image for a page can be set like this:
Example
body {background-image:url('paper.gif');}
Below is an example of a bad combination of text and background
image. The text is almost not readable:
Example
body {background-image:url('bgdesert.jpg');}
Background Image - Repeat Horizontally or Vertically
By default, the background-image property repeats an image both horizontally and vertically.
Some images should be repeated only horizontally or vertically, or they
will look strange, like this:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('gradient2.png');
}
If the image is repeated only horizontally (repeat-x), the background
will look better:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('gradient2.png');
background-repeat:repeat-x;
}
Background Image - Set position and no-repeat
When using a background image, use an image that does not disturb the text.
Showing the image only once is specified by the background-repeat
property:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('img_tree.png');
background-repeat:no-repeat;
}
In the example above, the background image is shown in the same place as the text. We want to
change the position of the image, so that it does not disturb the text too much.
The position of the image is specified by the background-position
property:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('img_tree.png');
background-repeat:no-repeat;
background-position:right top;
}
Background - Shorthand property
As you can see from the examples above, there are many properties to consider when dealing with
backgrounds.
To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the properties in one single property. This is
called a shorthand property.
The shorthand property for background is simply "background":
Example
body {background:#ffffff url('img_tree.png') no-repeat right top;}
Try it yourself »
When using the shorthand property the order of the property values are:
background-color
background-image
background-repeat
background-attachment
background-position
It does not matter if one of the property values are missing, as long as the ones that are present are
in this order.
This example uses more advanced CSS. Take a look: Advanced example
All CSS Background Properties
The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the
property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).
Property Description Values CSS
background Sets all the background background-color 1
properties in one declaration background-image
background-repeat
background-attachment
background-position
inherit
background-attachment Sets whether a background image scroll 1
is fixed or scrolls with the rest of fixed
the page inherit
background-color Sets the background color of an color-rgb 1
element color-hex
color-name
transparent
inherit
background-image Sets the background image for an url(URL) 1
element none
inherit
background-position Sets the starting position of a left top 1
background image left center
left bottom
right top
right center
right bottom
center top
center center
center bottom
x% y%
xpos ypos
inherit
background-repeat Sets if/how a background image repeat 1
will be repeated repeat-x
repeat-y
no-repeat
inherit
CSS SAMPLE PRACTICALS
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
body
{
background-image:url('smiley.gif');
background-repeat:no-repeat;
background-attachment:fixed;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
<p>The background-image is fixed. Try to scroll down the page.</p>
</body>
</html>
CSS TEXT
This example demonstrates how to increase or decrease the space between characters.
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
h1 {letter-spacing:2px;}
h2 {letter-spacing:-3px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is heading 1</h1>
<h2>This is heading 2</h2>
</body>
</html>
This example demonstrates how to specify the space between the lines in a paragraph.
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
p.small {line-height:90%;}
p.big {line-height:200%;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a standard line-height.
The default line height in most browsers is about 110% to 120%.
This is a paragraph with a standard line-height.
</p>
<p class="small">
This is a paragraph with a smaller line-height.
This is a paragraph with a smaller line-height.
This is a paragraph with a smaller line-height.
</p>
<p class="big">
This is a paragraph with a bigger line-height.
This is a paragraph with a bigger line-height.
This is a paragraph with a bigger line-height.
</p>
</body>
</html>
Use of text direction in CSS
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
div.ex1 {direction:rtl;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>Some text. Default writing direction.</div>
<div class="ex1">Some text. Right-to-left direction.</div>
</body>
</html>
USE OF TEXT DIRECTION AS AN ELEMENT
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
div.ex1 {direction:rtl;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>Some text. Default writing direction.</div>
<div class="ex1">Some text. Right-to-left direction.</div>
</body>
</html>
INCREASE WHITE SPACE BETWEEN TEXT
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
p
{
word-spacing:30px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is some text. This is some text.
</p>
</body>
</html>
DISABLEING TEXT WRAPPING
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
p
{
white-space:nowrap;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
</p>
</body>
</html>
ALIGNING THE IMAGE WITH TEXT USING CSS
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
img.top {vertical-align:text-top;}
img.bottom {vertical-align:text-bottom;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>An <img src="logo.gif" alt="logos" width="270" height="50" /> image with a
default alignment.</p>
<p>An <img class="top" src="logo.gif" alt="logos" width="270" height="50" /> image
with a text-top alignment.</p>
<p>An <img class="bottom" src="logo.gif" alt="logos" width="270" height="50" />
image with a text-bottom alignment.</p>
</body>
</html>
All CSS Text Properties
The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the
property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).
Property Description Values CSS
color Sets the color of a text color 1
direction Sets the text direction ltr 2
rtl
line-height Sets the distance between lines normal 1
number
length
%
letter-spacing Increase or decrease the space between characters normal 1
length
text-align Aligns the text in an element left 1
right
center
justify
text-decoration Adds decoration to text none 1
underline
overline
line-through
blink
text-indent Indents the first line of text in an element length 1
%
text-shadow none
color
length
text-transform Controls the letters in an element none 1
capitalize
uppercase
lowercase
unicode-bidi normal 2
embed
bidi-override
vertical-align Sets the vertical alignment of an element baseline 1
sub
super
top
text-top
middle
bottom
text-bottom
length
%
white-space Sets how white space inside an element is handled normal 1
pre
nowrap
word-spacing Increase or decrease the space between words normal 1
length
