Second on the list of the 5 technologies that web developers can use to change the world is CSS. This fantastic language offers unparalleled power over the presentation of HTML (and, incidentally, XML documents, too). While support for the current version, CSS2, is flimsy at the moment from certain popular browsers, the fact is that CSS will remain for a very long time the de-facto method for styling websites.
However ’twas not always so. Back in the bad old days of tag-soup, CSS was used to merely style fonts – frankly wasting the opportunities it presented. However, due to the tireless efforts of a few people, CSS and a more standardised approach to web designing and development is gaining much ground. In fact I would say that any web person who doesn’t use web standards is now looked down upon as being “old-skool”, and not in a good way. You know what geeks are like, always having to be on the cutting edge.
But the cutting edge is the place to be when it comes to CSS, and so many people are discovering the joys of messing with those funky curly braces that we’re constantly seeing amazing things being done with CSS alone. The future looks rosy, and with the advent of CSS3 and it’s new goodies.
But of course, bringing this back to the whole point of this little series, the CSS can be generated however you want. By your server-side script or JavaScript, and no doubt there are ways to get the web server itself to use CSS in some way. Just like many others, I have fallen in love with CSS. Try it, you might like it.