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Expression Web Tutorials:   Building Web Sites with CSS & HTML  ~  One Step at a Time


 
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CSS Is Easier Then You Think

Other web sites tell you there is a long learning curve associated with learning CSS.  Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way.  I think using CSS to style web pages along with HTML divs is a lot easier than using Tables. 

Expression Web and CSS

What is CSS?

Answer:  CSS is a style sheet language.

CSS is an Acronym for Cascading Style Sheets. 

CSS Defined:  CSS is used to control the presentation and appearance of web pages.  The way we do this is by creating Style Rules and applying these Style Rules to the HTML page elements.  Fortunately, Expression Web simplifies this process and makes the creation of CSS styles a little easier.

CSS Styles allow us to control the (x)html portion of a web site.  Thereby separating content from presentation.  CSS is, in essence, the presentation portion while (x)html is the content.  

 

Separation of Content from Structure

HTML and CSS are used together to Design Web Pages.   HTML is used to create the Structure of a web page, while CSS Styles the Structure. Without CSS, our Web Pages would look dull and lifeless.  Without HTML, we would have nothing to Style!  Therefore, CSS and HTML is one example of a Perfect Marriage!

That said, you do need a bit of HTML knowledge in order to effectively use CSS.  Fortunately, Expression Web writes all the code for us and all we must do is apply the correct HTML tag to our content,  and, choose the correct CSS Selector that will best target the HTML tag in question.

  

 While you do not have to write one single line of code when using expression web, you must be able to decide which html tag to use and what type of CSS Style to Create.

 

In a nutshell, CSS is a heck of a lot easier to learn and use when using Expression Web.  You do not have to memorize all the CSS Properties and their associated Values.

Instead, all the Cross-Browser Compatible CSS Properties are listed in the Style builder (new style dialog window), and their associated Values are listed in dropdown menus. 

 Take a look at Expression Web's Style Builder to see what I am talking about.

 
Expression Web E-Commerce Templates
 CSS and Generic E-Commerce and Other Templates Available.

 

How Do We Use CSS?

In order to use CSS effectively, we have to review a few concepts.  These concepts include the following:

1.  There are three types of CSS Styles, each is characterized by the location in which it is stored. 

2.  At the heart of Using CSS is the Style Declaration.  The Style Declaration is a Style Rule, or simply just a Style.  Read "Anatomy of a Style Declaration".

3.  Each Style Rule has at least one CSS Selector which defines the HTML to which the styles will be applied.

4.  Another part of a Style Rule is the Property: Value Pair.  One or more property: value pairs make up the Declaration Block of a Style.

5. Expression Web has several CSS Tools that we will use to create Style Rules.  Namely is the Style Builder.  The Style Builder allows us to use a multiple choice format when creating CSS Styles, which is much easier than writing CSS by hand!

6. The above concepts will provide you with a good picture of what CSS is all about.  After reading through the information, head on over to the Video Tutorials which will provide several examples of CSS in action.

 

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