Appendix B. CSS Fundamentals

IN THIS APPENDIX

• Basic Format of Style Sheet Entries

• Value Syntax

• Text Properties

• List Properties

• Pseudo-Class Properties

• Box Properties

• Floating and Clearing

• The <div> and <span> Tags

• Putting It Together

Blogging applications such as Blogger depend heavily on the underlying templates that control the overall look and feel of the final, published product. By separating the content from the presentation, even bloggers without HTML and CSS skills can produce aesthetically pleasing websites; those with a modicum of HTML and CSS knowledge can extend their sites and customize the appearance of their blog, even further.

In short, style sheets enable you to create your own set of presentation rules for HTML tags, classes, and other elements. By creating a thorough style sheet, you can rest assured that the content you surround with specific tag pairs will always look the same. If you want to create your own custom classes for existing HTML tags, you can do that as well. In this appendix you'll learn the basics of creating a style sheet, including the various attributes available for tags, classes, and other elements.

NOTE

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. The idea is that you might import styles from several different style sheets into your master template, and these internal styles or imported styles will then cascade seamlessly into one master style sheet.

This appendix is by no means a complete reference to all things CSS. Instead, it outlines most of the elements you will encounter when working with style sheet-based Blogger templates, thereby enabling you to perform numerous customizations for your blog.