Mastering CSS: An In-Depth Guide to Applying CSS in HTML: Techniques, Pros, and Cons
Introduction:
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is an integral part of web development, and it plays a crucial role in determining the look and feel of a website. In this blog post, you will learn about the various ways to apply CSS in HTML, the pros and cons of each method, and which method is recommended for use.
There are three ways to implement CSS in HTML:
- Inline Styles
- Internal Style Sheets
- External Style Sheets
You might also want to learn difference between inline and block level elements
Applying CSS using Inline Styles:
Inline styles are added to an HTML element using the “style” attribute. The syntax for adding an inline style is as follows:
<p style="color: red; font-size: 16px;">
This is a sample text with inline styles.
</p>Pros:
- Easy to use: Inline styles are straightforward and easy to apply.
- Overrides other styles: Inline styles take precedence over other styles, which makes it easier to override other styles when necessary.
Cons:
- Difficult to maintain: Inline styles are added to each element individually, which makes it difficult to manage the styles in a large HTML document.
- Repetition: If you have multiple elements that require the same styles, you have to repeat the styles for each element, which increases the size of your HTML document.
Applying CSS using Internal Stylesheets:
Internal stylesheets are added to an HTML document using the <style> tag, which is placed within the <head> section of the HTML document.
The HTML <style> tag is used to define styles for the content within a web page. The styles defined inside the <style> tag are known as internal styles and apply only to the current document. The <style> tag is placed within the <head> section of an HTML document. The styles defined within the <style> tag are only applied to the current document. This method is best suited for small projects or for adding styles to a single page.
The syntax for adding an internal stylesheet using <style> tag is as follows:
<head>
<style>
p {
font-size: 20px;
color: blue;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is a blue, 20-pixel-high paragraph.</p>
</body>In this example, the <style> tag is used to define the styles for all <p> elements within the document. The styles inside the <style> tag specify that the text within a <p> element should be 20 pixels high and blue. The <p> element in the <body> section of the document then follows these styles.
Internal styles are a convenient way to add styles to a web page, but they can become cumbersome as the size of the document grows. For larger projects, it’s often recommended to use external style sheets, which can be linked to a page using the <link> tag.
Pros:
- Easy to maintain: Internal stylesheets allow you to manage the styles for multiple elements in one place, which makes it easier to maintain the styles in a large HTML document.
- Reusable: If you have multiple HTML pages that require the same styles, you can reuse the same internal stylesheet in each page, which reduces the size of your HTML document.
Cons:
- Limited scope: Internal stylesheets are only applied to the HTML document in which they are added, which makes it difficult to reuse the styles in multiple HTML pages.
- Overrides other styles: Internal styles take precedence over external stylesheets and inline styles, which can make it difficult to override the styles when necessary.
Applying CSS using External Stylesheets:
External stylesheets are added to an HTML document using the <link> tag, which is placed within the <head> tag of the HTML document.
The HTML <link> tag is used to specify the relationship between the current HTML document and an external resource, such as a style sheet. The <link> tag is placed within the <head> section of an HTML document and does not have a closing tag.
External style sheets are separate files that contain CSS code and are linked to an HTML document using the <link> tag. The styles defined within an external style sheet can be applied to multiple HTML documents. This method is best suited for large projects with many pages that require a consistent style.
Here’s an example of how to use the <link> tag to link to a CSS file:
The syntax for adding an external stylesheet is as follows:
/*style.css file*/
p {
font-size: 20px;
color: blue;
}<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<p>This is a blue, 20-pixel-high paragraph defined in an external stylesheet.</p>
</body>In this example, the rel attribute specifies the relationship between the HTML document and the linked resource, which is a stylesheet. The type attribute indicates the type of resource being linked to, which is CSS. The href attribute specifies the location of the resource, which is a file named style.css.
Pros:
- Easy to maintain: External stylesheets allow you to manage the styles for multiple HTML pages in one place, which makes it easier to maintain the styles in a large website.
- Reusable: External stylesheets can be reused in multiple HTML pages, which reduces the size of your HTML document.
- Overridable: External stylesheets have the lowest precedence, which makes it easier to override the styles when necessary.
Cons:
- Limited browser support: External stylesheets may not be supported in older browsers, which can result in the styles not being applied to the HTML page.
- Separate file: External stylesheets are stored in a separate file, which can make it difficult to manage the styles in a small HTML document.
It’s recommended to use external style sheets for larger projects and internal style sheets or inline styles for smaller projects or for adding styles to specific elements. The use of inline styles should be minimized as it can make it difficult to maintain a consistent style across a website.