Sorry this post is getting out a bit late (I’ll have to post another one tonight after class in order to meet my quota of ten for the semester. . .how did I go from being way ahead to being behind?). Anyway, it has to do with our foray into the world of CSS.
According to Dreamweaver’s “Help” section of the program, CSS stands for “Cascading Style Sheets,” which basically means that they are style sheets/templates/forms (whatever word you need to use to best understand the concept) that you can use to create pages for your Web site, without having to “redo” your pages each time you want to make a new page. As we saw with the practice we did on Tuesday, they make life a bit easier when you’re building a Web site that will have pretty much the same look throughout. Also, according to Dreamweaver “Help,” CSS helps to make the appearance of your site consistent across all (or at least most) browsers. CSS gives you control over how elements appear (including color, placement, size, etc.), without having to go through and create each element individually. DIV tags are apparently a quick and easy way to use CSS elements on your pages.
According to w3schools.com, CSS
On this Web site, they basically tell you that HTML was intended to be used for certain elements, but not for others (like formatting) and that it essentially lightens the load of the Web designer, as the HTML codes do not need to be repeated (or even copied and pasted!), since they can be saved and opened through CSS filing. Also, to underscore what Dreamweaver “Help” said, “CSS defines how HTML elements are to be displayed.”
Luckily for all of us, Dreamweaver already files CSS elements. We have the flexibility to change them at any time, from page to page, if we wish, but they are already filed in the simpler system. With CSS, even newbies like us can build Web sites without having to memorize or reference (or worse, repeat!) numerous HTML codes.
More of my infinite wisdom to come later this evening, based on what we discuss in class today (and possibly some of my preliminary research findings!). Don’t faint in anticipation.
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