CSS Standards
It's obvious at the outset that there is quite a deal of controversy surrounding cascading style sheets (CSS) and their use. What is CSS and why do we use it? When and where should it be implemented? How compatible is it? Who decides what is or is not standard CSS? These are just a few questions I thought of as I studied the subject. Hopefully, these answers will be a useful study help and an accurate depiction of my research.
First, what is CSS and why do we use it? Style sheets are files containing very basic code that can be referenced to structure a web page. They make it possible to layout a web page without altering the original page markup. CSS can control the position, shape, size, and color of nearly every aspect of a web page. It can be referenced from many pages across a web site. This detachment makes it easily maintainable. One line of CSS can change the look of an entire multilevel website. CSS 2.1 is the current version available but CSS3 is on its way with new definition possibilities and of course, more powerful controls.
It seems to be pretty clear that CSS should be used to control nearly every visual aspect of a website. CSS should be used to format headers, paragraphs, links, tables, fonts, backgrounds, etc. However, there are many things that CSS can do to make a page better looking and more user friendly that SHOULD NOT be used. That's right, there are tools that exist that should not be used because certain browsers can not handle them.
Internet Explorer (IE) has long been the biggest source of contention on this issue. IE is most widely used web browser. It comes standard on every PC. Most users never even think that there might be something wrong with what seems to be the "one and only." However, IE has not been keeping up with web standards. Very simply, this means that certain elements of CSS have been created and published but people using Internet Explorer do not see the effects of it. If the layout of a website depended largely on a piece of newer CSS, the average viewer would have a completely different view of the design and layout.
These CSS standards are set by a department of W3C Schools known as the CSS Working Group. The group is made up of several people with internet background. Some are representatives of browser vendors. Some are just web developers with a desire to further the advances of CSS. There is controversy surrounded the presence of these browser vendor representatives. As one might guess, there are ulterior motives and agendas as they try to advance, or even hold back, CSS in ways that will benefit their company.
As I looked through the many tables showing browsers that were or were not supported, I noticed many areas that were not green. In other words, many basic CSS definitions are not supported in many different browsers. Netscape seemed to be the worst. That's okay. As of New Years Eve, Netscape Navigator no longer exists in any of its incompatible versions. Internet Explorer 7 scored much better than its earlier versions but was still outdone in every area by Gecko, Safari, and Opera who seemed to dominate and support almost every possible definition in CSS2.1. I wish that Mozilla Firefox had been represented. That is really the only one I am very familiar with other than IE. The news from December 12, 2007 may turn the world upside down. Internet Explorer 8 successfully passed a test called Acid 2. The test was developed to challenge web browsers to see if they will support all the features that should be available.
CSS Zen Garden was an eye opener and inspiration to me. I am striving to learn all that I can do to implement it, and do so properly. It's been tough for me to layout a site for multiple browsers. This development at Microsoft with IE8 may just turn the bumpy road of web development into the superhighway it creates.
