This class provides the web professional with the ability to control the rendering, e.g. fonts, colours, leading, margins, typefaces, and other aspects of style, of a Web document without compromising its structure using Cascading Style Sheets. Using common desktop publishing terminology, Cascading Style Sheets makes it easy for professional as well as untrained designers to make use of its features.

CSS Introduction

• HTML Structure and Content, CSS Presentation
  
• Advantages of CSS
  
• Creating and Using Style-Sheets
  
• CSS Rules: The Basic Syntax
  
• Case, Whitespace and Comments in CSS
  
• The CSS Standards
  
• The Scope Of CSS
  
• Browser Support for CSS
  
• Hands-on Exercises

CSS Boxes and CSS Selectors

• The CSS Box Model
  
• CSS and Logical HTML Structure
  
• Styling Boxes: Borders, Margins and Padding
  
• The IE Box Model and Quirks Mode
  
• IE Box Model Workarounds
  
• Using IE6 Standards Mode
  
• Specifying CSS Distances
  
• Problems with Absolute Units: pixels and point sizes
  
• Using Proportional Units: em, ex and percentages
  
• Formatting Box Edges Differently
  
• Shorthand Syntax for Sets of Edges
  
• Using Margins and Padding Effectively
  
• Collapsing Vertical Margins on Paragraphs
  
• Using Negative Margins on Boxes
  
• Background Images on CSS Boxes
  
• Grouping Elements with HTML Classes
  
• Styling Multiple Elements Similarly (Selector Grouping)
  
• Block Boxes and Inline Boxes
  
• Block Box Behaviour
  
• nline Box Behaviour
  
• Hands-on Exercises

Text Formatting in CSS

• Text Formatting
  
• Typefaces, Alternatives and Defaults
  
• Text Size — a Serious Usability Issue
  
• Font Characteristics
  
• Setting and Using Space Within Text
  
• Formatting Blocks of Text
  
• Using Arbitrary Inline Tags: <span>
  
• Hands-on Exercises

More CSS Selectors and Selection

• Using HTML Element IDs in CSS
  
• Using CSS Descendant Selectors
  
• Descendant Selector Examples
  
• Child, Sibling and Pseudo-Class Selectors
  
• Why You Need To Know Them
  
• Browser Support and CSS Hacks
  
• Distinguishing and Setting Link States
  
• Link, Visited, Hover, Active, Focus
  
• Modularising CSS Style-Sheets
  
• Simpler Management, Less Effort, More Control
  
• Embedded CSS Styles in HTML Documents
  
• How and When to Use Them (Rarely).
  
• Distinguishing Print, Screen and other Output Formats
  
• Special Issues in CSS for Print
• Hands-on Exercises

CSS Positioning

• Choosing the Right CSS
  
• Technique for Positioning Blocks
  
• The Position Property, Floats, Margins (inc. Negative and Auto), etc
  
• Static Positioning and Normal Flow
  
• Absolute Positioning Outside Normal Flow
  
• Relative Positioning — Not What You May Expect!
  
• Fixed Positioning Outside Normal Flow
  
• Relative Absolute Positioning
  
• Absolutely Positioned Blocks in Relatively Positioned Containers
  
• Floating Boxes with the CSS float property
  
• Page Layout Using Absolutely Positioned Blocks
  
• Hands-on Exercises

More on CSS Page Layout

• Alternative Methods of CSS Positioning
  
• Centring Blocks
  
• Styling Lists
  
• Redefining the Behaviour of Inline and Block Elements
  
• Hiding and Revealing Blocks
  
• Table Formatting in CSS
  
• Styling Table Cell Borders
  
• Page Layout with Table Display Properties
  
• Hands-on Exercises

Cascade, Precedence, Specificity and Inheritance in CSS

• Taking Control: Ensuring that CSS Rules Interact in the Way You Want
  
• Combining Styles: Different Types, Origins, Importance, Specificity and Order
  
• Examples: Combining Rules
  
• Cascading and Cascade Order
  
• Resolving Style Conflicts By Origin
  
• Resolving Style Conflicts By Importance
  
• Resolving Conflict By Selector Specificity
  
• Resolving Conflict By Order
  
• Non-CSS Presentational Hints
  
• Property Inheritance
  
• Hands-on Exercises

CSS Layers and Translucency

• Different Forms of Layered Presentation in CSS
  
• Layering with the z-index Property
  
• Different Methods for Creating Translucency Effects
  
• The CSS3 opacity Property
  
• opacity Example
  
• Fixed Attachment Backgrounds in Layers
  
• background-attachment Example
  
• Transparency and Semi-transpaency with Alpha-Blended PNG
  
• PNG Translucency Example and Sample Code
  
• Pseudo-Transparency with JPG Positioned Backgrounds
  
• JPG Pseudo Transparency Example
  
• Hands-on Exercises

Using CSS in the Real World

• Deploying CSS
  
• CSS Formatting Versus HTML Formatting
  
• Achieving a Balance
  
• Standard Tags and Semantic Markup
  
• Usability
  
• Readable Pages
  
• Screen Size and Fluid Design
  
• Text Size, Including Internet Explorer Quirks
  
• Table Layout and CSS Positioning
  
• Table Layout and CSS Positioning as Alternatives
  
• Combining Table Layout with CSS Positioning
  
• CSS Browser Support
  
• Testing Websites
  
• Using Test Suites and Multiple Browsers
  
• Cross-platform Testing in Single-platform Environments
  
• CSS Help and Advice
  
• Authorative Sources versus Web Myths and Gossip
  
• Free Lifetime Support
  

You should have a working knowledge of HTML.

Web professionals who are seeking to provide a more accessible design structure using Cascading Style Sheets.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Converting an Existing Page
• Styling for Print
  
• Styling a Press Release
  
• Making an Input Form Look Good
  
• Styling an Events Calendar
  
• Creating an Online Greeting Card
  
• Bringing Hyperlinks to Life
  
• Multicolumn Layout
  
• How to Skin a Menu
  
• Sneaking Out of the Box
  
• Positioning a Better Design
  
• Fixing Your Backgrounds
  

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