Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for specifying
the presentation and styling of a document written in a markup language such
as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML).[2] CSS
is a cornerstone technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML
and JavaScript.[3]
CSS is designed to enable the separation of content and presentation,
including layout, colors, and fonts.[4] This separation can improve
content accessibility, since the content can be written without concern for its
presentation; provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentation
characteristics; enable multiple web pages to share formatting by specifying the
relevant CSS in a separate .css file, which reduces complexity and repetition in the
structural content; and enable the .css file to be cached to improve the page load
speed between the pages that share the file and its formatting.
Separation of formatting and content also makes it feasible to present the same
markup page in different styles for different rendering methods, such as on-screen,
in print, by voice (via speech-based browser or screen reader), and on Braille-
based tactile devices. CSS also has rules for alternative formatting if the content is
accessed on a mobile device.[5]
The name cascading comes from the specified priority scheme to determine which
declaration applies if more than one declaration of a property match a particular
element. This cascading priority scheme is predictable.
The CSS specifications are maintained by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C). Internet media type (MIME type) text/css is registered for use
with CSS by RFC 2318 (March 1998). The W3C operates a free CSS validation
service for CSS documents.[6]
In addition to HTML, other markup languages support the use of CSS
including XHTML, plain XML, SVG, and XUL. CSS is also used in the GTK widget
toolkit
