Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
Motivation
HTML markup can be used to represent
Semantics: h1 means that an element is a top-level
heading
Presentation: h1 elements look a certain way
It’s advisable to separate semantics from
presentation because:
It’s easier to present documents on multiple platforms
(browser, cell phone,)
It’s easier to generate documents with consistent look
Semantic and presentation changes can be made
independently of one another (division of labor)
User control of presentation is facilitated
CSS Introduction
A styled HTML document
produced by the style sheet style1.css:
CSS Introduction
link element associates style sheet with doc.
CSS Introduction
type attribute specifies style language used
CSS Introduction
href attribute provides style sheet URL
CSS Introduction
title attribute provides style sheet name
CSS Introduction
Alternative, user selectable style sheets
can be specified
CSS Introduction
CSS Introduction
A styled HTML document
produced by the style sheet style2.css:
CSS Introduction
Note that alternate, user selectable style is
not widely supported: firefox 3 and IE 8 do,
but IE 6, IE 7 and Chrome don’t.
CSS Syntax
Parts of a style rule (or statement)
CSS Syntax:
Selector Strings
Single element type:
Multiple element types:
All element types:
Specific elements by id:
Style Sheets and HTML
Style sheets referenced by link HTML
element are called external style sheets
Style sheets can be embedded directly in
HTML document using style element
Most HTML elements have style
attribute (value is list of style declarations)
Style Sheets and HTML
Rules of thumb:
Use external style sheets to define site-wide style
Prefer style sheets (either external or embedded)
to style attributes
XML special characters
Must use references in embedded style sheets and
style attribute
Must not use references in external style sheets
CSS Rule Cascade
What if more than one style declaration
applies to a property of an element?
The CSS rule cascade determines which
style rule’s declaration applies
CSS Inheritance
What if no style declaration applies to a
property of an element?
Generally, the property value is inherited
from the nearest ancestor element that has a
value for the property
If no ancestor has a value (or the property
does not inherit) then CSS defines an initial
value that is used
CSS Inheritance
CSS Inheritance
Property values:
Specified: value contained in declaration
Absolute: value can be determined without reference
to context (e.g., 2cm)
Relative: value depends on context (e.g., larger)
Computed: absolute representation of relative
value (e.g., larger might be 1.2 x parent font
size)
Actual: value actually used by browser (e.g.,
computed value might be rounded)
CSS Inheritance
Most properties inherit computed value
Exception discussed later: line-height
A little thought can usually tell you whether
a property inherits or not
Example: height does not inherit
CSS Font Properties
A font is a mapping from code points to glyphs
Glyph (visual representation)
character cell
(content area)
CSS Font Properties
A font is a mapping from code points to glyphs
glyphs do not necessary stay inside cells!
CSS Font Properties
A font family is a collection of related fonts
(typically differ in size, weight, etc.)
font-family property can accept a list of
families, including generic font families
first choice font
CSS Font Properties
A font family is a collection of related fonts
(typically differ in size, weight, etc.)
font-family property can accept a list of
families, including generic font families
second choice font
CSS Font Properties
A font family is a collection of related fonts
(typically differ in size, weight, etc.)
font-family property can accept a list of
families, including generic font families
generic
CSS Font Properties
Note that most generic font can be easily
set on Firefox and Chrome, but such option
doesn’t seem to be available on IE 7 and 8. IE
will still default to something although maybe
not what you had hoped for!
CSS Font Properties
Many properties, such as font-size, have a value that
is a CSS length
All CSS length values except 0 need units
CSS Font Properties
Reference font defines em and ex units
Normally, reference font is the font of the
element being styled
Exception: Using em/ex to specify value for
font-size
parent element’s font is
reference font
CSS Font Properties
Other ways to specify value for
font-size:
Percentage (of parent font-size)
Absolute size keyword: xx-small, x-small,
small, medium (initial value), large,
x-large, xx-large
User agent specific; should differ by ~ 20%
Relative size keyword: smaller, larger
Relative to parent element’s font
CSS Font Properties
CSS Font Properties
Text is rendered using line boxes
Height of line box given by line-height
Initial value: normal (i.e., cell height; relationship with
em height is font-specific)
Other values (following are equivalent):
CSS Font Properties
font shortcut property:
CSS Font Properties
font shortcut property:
Initial values used if no value specified in font
property list (that is, potentially reset)
CSS Font Properties
font shortcut property:
specifying line-height (here, twice cell height)
any order size and family required,
order-dependent
CSS Text Formatting
CSS Text Color
Font color specified by color property
Two primary ways of specifying colors:
Color name: black, gray, silver, white, red, lime,
blue, yellow, aqua, fuchsia, maroon, green, navy,
olive, teal, purple, full list at
http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/types.html#Color
Keywords
red/green/blue (RGB) values
CSS Text Color
CSS Text Color
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
CSS Box Model
If multiple declarations apply to a property,
the last declaration overrides earlier
specifications
Left border is 30px wide,
inset style, and red
Backgrounds
background-color
Specifies background color for content, padding,
and border areas
Margin area is always transparent
Not inherited; initial value transparent
background-image
Specifies (using url() function) image that
will be tiled over an element
Backgrounds
<body style="background-image:url('CucumberFlowerPot.png')">
Normal Flow Layout
In normal flow processing, each displayed
element has a corresponding box
html element box is called initial containing
block and corresponds to entire document
Boxes of child elements are contained in boxes
of parent
Sibling block elements are laid out one on top of
the other
Sibling inline elements are one after the other
Normal Flow Layout
(body)
(html)
Normal Flow Layout
Block
elements
only
Normal Flow Layout
html
body
div d1
div d2
div d3
div d4
Top edges of
block boxes are
in document order
Normal Flow Layout
What is a “block element”?
Element with value block specified for its
display property
User agent style sheet (not CSS) specifies default
values; typical block elements include html,
body, p, pre, div, form, ol, ul, dl, hr, h1
through h6
Most other elements except li and table-related
have inline specified for display
Normal Flow Layout
When blocks stack, adjacent margins are
collapsed to the size of the larger margin
Normal Flow Layout
Initial value of width property is auto, which
for block boxes means to make the content area as
wide as possible within margin/padding constraints:
Width of block boxes
increases as browser
client area is widened
Normal Flow Layout
Can also specify CSS length or percentage
(of parent’s content width) for width
property
By default, width of right margin is
adjusted to accommodate a change to
width
Normal Flow Layout
Can also specify CSS length or percentage
(of parent’s content width) for width
property
Centering can be achieved by setting
both margins to auto
Normal Flow Layout
Boxes corresponding to character cells and
inline elements are laid out side by side in line
boxes that are stacked one on top of the other
Heights
based on
content
Character cells aligned by baseline
Normal Flow Layout
Padding/borders/margins affect width but
not height of inline boxes
Normal Flow Layout
Specify value for vertical-align to position
an inline element within line box:
initial
value of
vertical-
align
Beyond Normal Flow
CSS allows for boxes to be positioned
outside the normal flow:
Relative positioning
span’s shifted backwards relative to normal flow
Beyond Normal Flow
CSS allows for boxes to be positioned
outside the normal flow:
Float positioning
span taken out of normal
flow and “floated” to the
left of its line box
Beyond Normal Flow
CSS allows for boxes to be positioned
outside the normal flow:
Absolute positioning
span’s removed from
normal flow and
positioned relative
to another box
Beyond Normal Flow
Properties used to specify positioning:
position: static (initial value),
relative, or absolute
Element is positioned if this property not static
Properties left, right, top, bottom apply to
positioned elements
Primary values are auto (initial value) or CSS length
float: none, left, or right
Applies to elements with static and relative
positioning only
Beyond Normal Flow
Relative positioning
Specifying positive value for right property of
relatively positioned box moves it to left
<span style="background-color:red">
</span><span class="right">Red</span>
span
containing
text moves
left
Beyond Normal Flow
Relative positioning
Specifying negative value for left property
also moves box to left
<span style="background-color:red">
</span><span class="right">Red</span>
same
effect as
before
Beyond Normal Flow
Float positioning
Specify value for float property
Beyond Normal Flow
Float positioning
Specify value for float property
Floated element becomes a CSS block
element (e.g., can set height and width)
Beyond Normal Flow
Absolute positioning
Specify location for corner of box relative to
positioned containing block
p elements are positioned (but don’t move!)
margin area
padding area
containing This second paragraph has a
block note.
Beyond Normal Flow
Absolute positioning
Specify location for edges of box relative to
positioned containing block
Beyond Normal Flow
Absolute positioning
10em padding top
edge
padding left
edge
Beyond Normal Flow
Absolute positioning
8em
Beyond Normal Flow
Absolutely positioned box does not affect
positioning of other boxes!
Second absolutely
positioned box
obscures first
CSS Position-Related Properties
z-index: drawing order for overlaid
boxes (largest number drawn last)
CSS Position-Related Properties
display: value none means that element
and its descendants are not rendered and do
not affect normal flow
visibility: value hidden (initial
value is visible) means that element and its
descendants are not rendered but still do affect
normal flow
