CSS(Cascading Style Sheets) - An Overview

What Is CSS?

CSS stands for cascading style sheets. In short, CSS is a design language that makes a website look more appealing than just plain or uninspiring pieces of text. Whereas HTML largely determines textual content, CSS determines the visual structure, layout, and aesthetics. HTML is a markup language, and CSS is a style sheet language. Think “look and feel” when you think CSS.

What is CSS for?

A document is usually a text file structured using a markup language — HTML is the most common markup language, but you may also come across other markup languages such as SVG or XML.

Presenting a document to a user means converting it into a form usable by your audience. Browsers, like Firefox, Chrome, or Edge, are designed to present documents visually, for example, on a computer screen, projector or printer.

CSS can be used for very basic document text styling — for example changing the color and size of headings and links. It can be used to create a layout — for example turning a single column of text into a layout with the main content area and a sidebar for related information. It can even be used for effects such as animation. Have a look at the links in this paragraph for specific examples.

What are the advantages of CSS?

Quicker Development Time

With CSS, you can apply specific formatting rules and styles to multiple pages with one string of code. One cascading style sheet can be replicated across several website pages. If, for instance, you have product pages that should all have the same formatting, look, and feel, writing CSS rules for one page will suffice for all pages of that same type.

Faster Page Speed

More code means slower page speed. And CSS enables you to use less code. CSS allows you to use one CSS rule and apply it to all occurrences of a certain tag within an HTML document.

Easy Formatting Changes

If you need to change the format of a specific set of pages, it’s easy to do so with CSS. There’s no need to fix every individual page. Just edit the corresponding CSS stylesheet and you’ll see changes applied to all the pages that are using that style sheet.

Better User Experience

CSS not only makes web pages easy on the eye, but it also allows for user-friendly formatting. When buttons and text are in logical places and well organized, the user experience improves.

Compatibility Across Devices

Responsive web design matters. In today’s day and age, web pages must be fully visible and easily navigable on all devices. Whether mobile or tablet, desktop, or even smart TV, CSS combines with HTML to make responsive design possible.

What are the disadvantages of CSS?

Come in different levels

There’s CSS, CSS 1 up to CSS3, which has resulted in confusion among developers and web browsers. One type of CSS should be enough. It would be preferable to have to choose which CSS level to use.

Fragmentation

With CSS, what works with one browser may not always work with another. This is why web developers have to test for compatibility, running the program across multiple browsers before a website is set live. If only people use Mozilla or Chrome, but they don’t.

Lack of security

Because it is an open text-based system, CSS doesn’t have the built-in security that will protect it from being overridden. Anyone who has read/written access to a website can change the CSS file, alter the links, or disrupt the formatting, whether by accident or design.