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CSS Layouts


WebDuck Designs is a website design company that constructs all of our websites using CSS. Our team of experienced web developers can transform any website mockup image into a fully functional CSS based webpage. If you need a design turned into a CSS layout or are looking to have a new search engine optimized website constructed then contact us via our contact form or by phone at 860.781.6028

What is CSS

CSS is short for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a set of styles or rules used to define how a webpage, website, or a particular XHTML element is formatted. CSS was introduced by the W3C as a way to standardize how web browsers decipher the formatting of a web page. Internet Explorer based web browsers and Mozilla based web browsers like Firefox and Netscape Navigator were continuing to add new proprietary HTML tags leading to programmers and designers having to spend more time worrying about cross browser compatibility then being creative and actually designing. Since its inception, CSS has proven to be a very successful and much needed implementation. With the exception of Internet Explorer including the newest IE 7 all the major browsers adhere to the CSS rules established by the W3C.

What is a CSS Based Layout

A CSS based layout is a cross browser compatible webpage that uses the "<DIV>" tag as its defining element. By using a "<DIV"> tag you can eliminate the complicated "<Table>" based layouts with embedded tables, table rows, and table cells. For an example of what a CSS based website looks like, just view the source code for any of the web pages on webduckdesigns.com .

Why Use CSS Based Layouts

 

  • CSS based layouts require less code on the webpage which means page load times are decreased and the content to code ratio increases
  • CSS based web pages have more aesthetically pleasing code then standard table based web pages.
  • CSS styles can be embedded into individual web pages or included from external CSS style sheets. The use of external CSS style sheets means less code on a page.
  • A single Cascading Style Sheet can be used on multiple pages. This means that once a web browser has read the style sheet once, it is cached and doesn't need to reload which in turn leads to a faster loading webpage.
  • By applying a single Cascading Style Sheet to multiple pages, changes for all associated pages can be made in one place which makes editing easier and more efficient.
  • Despite the fact that Internet Explorer ( newest version being IE 7 ) is not 100% compliant, it is compliant enough that CSS based websites allow designers and web developers to build true cross browser compatible web applications with less hassle
  • CSS based websites are the future of the internet. Many of the original HTML style tags have been deprecated and eventually not supported by web browsers. With the increased push towards making websites XML based eventually old table based websites will just not work. When that will happen is anybody's guess however the transition has already begun with the recent popularity of XHTML 1.0.
  • The biggest advantage of using a CSS based website is the ability to manipulate page elements through the use of JavaScript. The common term used to describe this is DHTML or "Dynamic HTML". Thanks to the W3C's creation of the DOM or Document Object Model, JavaScript programmers can change every aspect of a websites appearance instantly without the page even having to reload. An example of this the three themes of webduckdesigns.com. If you look at the top right or bottom left of this or any page of webduckdesigns.com you will see three small square boxes of different color. When you click on one of these three boxes, javascript interacts with the webpage and redefines the CSS style of individual elements on the page.

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