HTML Style Sheets
By Eric D. Thomson
Introduction
This paper will address the issue of HTML style sheet standardization. With the vastly expanding World Wide Web comes an equally rapidly expanding constellation of HTML authoring styles, some good, some bad, and some just plain ugly! One reason for this jungle of styles is that Web authors find it too cumbersome to change every Web page to improve their style. Authors are busy enough; keeping data current on a Web site or setting up the latest Web commerce application takes precedence over sprucing up a document.Using a document-formatting construct called a style sheet, Web designers can replace all formatting information in their Web pages with named character and paragraph styles, placing the actual specification for these styles in a separate file. A few changes to a style sheet can completely change the appearance of a document. A style sheet can be shared among all documents on a Web page, making it possible for the first time for a Web site to have a consistent style and presentation without laboriously hand-coding each HTML page (see http://www.pcweek.com/reviews/1216/16html.html.)
Needless to say, such capabilities are greatly lacking in the vast majority of Web sites today, and countless person-hours of Web page maintenance can be saved by employing some sort of "style facility.". In addition, good, consistent style can flow throughout a Web site with little upkeep on the part of the Web author.
Explanation of Style Sheets
Issues/debates surrounding style sheets
IT Standards
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February 27, 1997
Final Version
thomsone@timken.com