What is CSS?
CSS is neither a markup language nor a programming language, Cascading Style Sheet language (CSS) is a Style sheet language, it is used to describe the presentation of a document written in XML or HTML. It is standardized across web browsers and is among one of the core languages of the open web. CSS can control the layout of various web pages all at the same point in time. At the same time use of CSS can save a lot of work.
CSS Ruleset:
1. Selector
It is the element name of HTML which is at the start of the ruleset. It defines the elements that are to be styled. To style different elements you need to change the selector.
2. Declaration
The properties of elements to be styled are specified by declaration. It is a single rule.
3. Properties
The ways in which you can style your HTML element are called properties. You can choose which properties you want should be affected in the element in CSS.
4. Property value
After the colon, on the right side of the property, there is property value. There are many appearances for a given property and property value chooses one out of them.
Some other important parts in the syntax of CSS are:
- One must use a colon (:) within each declaration to separate property from its value/values.
- You must use a semi-colon (;) to separate each declaration from another in a ruleset.
- Rulesets must be wrapped with curly brackets ({}), leaving the selector apart.
Features of CSS
You can find here, the different types of selectors.
- Tag/type selector: it selects all HTML elements of the selected types.
- Class selector: it selects the element on the page with a specified class. On a page, multiple instances of the same class can appear.
- ID selector: it selects the element on the page with a specific ID. Each ID value is unique on an HTML page.
- Attribute selector: it selects the elements on the page with a very specific attribute.
- Pseudo-class Selector: it selects specified elements but only when it is in a specified state.
CSS layout is more or less based on the box model, each box that takes up space on your page has some properties
like:
- Padding: the space around the content
- Border: it is a solid line, that is present just outside the padding
- Margin: it is a space outside of the border.
In this section, one can also use:
· Background color: it is the colour behind the element’s padding and content.
· Colour: the colour of the text of the element.
· Text-shadow: Text-shadow can be used to set a drop shadow on the text in an element.
· Width: It describe the size of an element.
· Display: Display sets the elements on the display mode.
Read: Best HTML/CSS3 Blog Templates
Different Types Of CSS Combinators
In CSS, the user can create combinations among the selectors. The four combinators of CSS are:
1. Child Selector
It is used to apply CSS to the entire selected child elements of an element. The greater-than sign (>) is used to postulate a child selector.
2. Descendent selectors
A descendent selector is used to counterpart all the elements that are descendants of a particular element. Space is used to lay down a descendant selector.
3. General Sibling selector
It is used to put on CSS on every sibling of the particular element. A tilde symbol (~) is used for the general sibling selector.
4. Adjacent Sibling selector
Unlike a general sibling selector, an adjacent sibling selector is used to apply CSS only on the adjacent siblings of the particular element. A plus sign (+) is used for adjacent sibling selectors.
Different Ways In Which One Can Make Use Of CSS.
There are 3 ways via which a person can use CSS, they are:
1. Internal CSS
2. External CSS
3. Inline CSS
Learn more about them:
1. Internal CSS
The internal CSS can be used to define an exclusive CSS to a particular HTML page. There are no external files for CSS, instead, CSS is written in the HTML file only. The style tag is located between the head tag.
2. External CSS
The main idea of an external CSS is the alteration of the CSS of several files by making a change in only a single file. The styles are written in an external file that is linked to the HTML files with the use of proper syntax. The external CSS file always must have a .css extension.
3. Inline CSS
The inline CSS can be used to describe exclusive CSS to an element in the HTML page. The style attribute is supplementary to the element. Inline CSS is given priority over both Internal CSS and External CSS.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using CSS
Advantages of using CSS
* CSS saves a lot of time – one can write CSS only one time and then reuse the same sheet in numerous HTML pages. You can define a style for each HTML element and use it on as many Web pages as you want to.
*Easy maintenance – in order to make a global change, you can simply change the style, and all elements in all the web pages will be modified automatically.
*Global web standards − HTML attributes are being criticized and it is being recommended to use CSS. So it’s a good clue to start with CSS in all the HTML pages to make them well-suited with future browsers.
*Platform Independence – The CSS Script offers a consistent platform that is independent and can support all the latest browsers as well.
*It is less complex to use and so, the efforts are significantly reduced.
*CSS very easy for the user to customize their online page
*All versions of CSS shrinks the file transfer size.
Disadvantages of using CSS
*There happens to be an inadequacy of security.
*After making the changes, you need to confirm the compatibility and if they appear and make sure that the similar change affects all the browsers.
*The programming language world is might seem to be a little complicated for beginners and non-developers. Different levels of CSS (i.e. CSS, CSS 2, CSS 3 )are often quite confusing sometimes.
*Browser compatibility- some style sheets are supported with CSS and some are not.
*CSS works in a different way on different browsers. IE and Opera support CSS as a dissimilar logic.
*There might be some cross-browser issues while using CSS.
*There are multiple levels that might be the reason for the confusion among the non-developers and beginners.
In the context of the advantages and disadvantages of CSS talked about, it is reasonable to institute that the advantages of CSS greater than the disadvantages of CSS. It authorizes a web designer to make widespread changes to the web layout of all pages of a website through an only file.
It lets you design a light yet approachable website which is fast to load and great at gaining the attention of the audience with its display. So, every website needs to have its fair share of CSS, irrespective of the many advantages and disadvantages of CSS.
Animation has very quickly become a necessity for modern websites, where user engagement is considered a very huge deal. To help with animation, there are plenty of code generators and custom tools.
But also, there are free libraries you can access and save your time. You can find here, the best libraries that you can have for your web design services.
Websites To Download CSS Animation
1. Animista
It a library and an online animation generator at the same time. Animista provides its users with the following features:
* Choose from a variety of animation: animista provides you with a variety of animations, from which you can choose the one that you desire. Even more, you can choose a different alternative for that animation too.
* Customization: it provides you with a feature to customize your animations. You can customize parts like duration, delay, and direction. Also, you can animate the object that you want to like a character, background, image, and even a simple centered block.
*Get the CSS code
* Download selected codes
2. Animate.css
Here is a short guide for the use of this website.
* Usage: it can be used with both JavaScript and Jquery.
*Extra features: delay and speed, you can add delay and speed to your animations
3. WickedCSS
It works on top of CSS3 properties and offers pretty incredible results. Some of the options on this app are easy enough to be used by yourself.
4. CSShake
This is a pretty unique website that has a very distinguished library. From vigorous movements to mild movements, it has a pretty easy setup to boot.
5. Magic Animation CSS3
Its animation library has some pretty cool features and especially the 3D ones. You can use it with both JavaScript, Jquery.
6. Cssanimation.io
It has a whole bunch of animations, probably around 200 overall. Cssanimation can be used with both JavaScript and Jquery. Get animation like sequence and random.
7. Angrytools
It is a collection of different generators and CSS is one of them. This site provides certain customizations like delay or duration to your animation. You can also add keyframes to your timeline using Angrytools. Also, you can edit existing timelines.
8. Bounce.js
You can make powerful animations with CSS and JS in just a few clicks on the bounce. You can find an animation builder with a focus on the homepage of bounce. It also allows the user to add specific animation features to there without having to add any extra code. Bounce.js does not work as just a library
9. Magic
The entire collection of magic is focused on CSS3 animations that come along with custom styles that cannot be found anywhere else. It is quite a big collection of CSS3 codes and you can also find a lot of cool animation tricks like fading effects, perspective flips, rotation, and many others there on the website. The animations on this website are very neat, that you won’t be finding on other websites.
10. Hover.css
The specialty of this website is that every time you hover over an element, the CSS animation gets triggered. It has some really good animations; also it has classes to animate icons. It is very easy to use, you just have to add the name of the class to your element.
11. animate.style
Animate.css is a css library of ready-to-use animations for your websites.
12. animo.js.org
Download transitions and animations with JavaScript.
13. minimamente(Rocket)
Download beautiful animations from rocket.
14. freefrontend
Download beautiful animations from freefrontend.
Conclusion
Web development today is not possible without the use of CSS. It might seem a little difficult to use in the beginning but once you get a hold of it and learn a few concepts about it, it will come more easily to you.
