Newbie question on HTML and CSS

[oldbones55]

I'm in the beginning stages of learning CSS but I'm just not seeing
why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I can simply do
in HTML. What is the advantage of CSS? Any good CSS for "dummies"
sites? Thanks.

 

[Andy Dingley]

I'm in the beginning stages of learning CSS but I'm just not seeing
why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I can simply do
in HTML.

Start to draw the distinction between "HTML 3.2" (10 years out of date)
and "HTML 4.01 Strict" (what you should be using).

In HTML 3.2 you can do "everything" (for large values of "everything")
in HTML alone. That's good, because it's all you've got. In HTML 4 you
do the "content" stuff in HTML and the "presentation" stuff in CSS.
This separation conveys many benefits, the biggest being that it's
easier to do two simple things than one big complicated thing in one go.

CSS also has more precise control over many features than you had with
HTML 3.2. You control broadly the same things, plus a few more, and in
finer detail.

Any good CSS for "dummies" sites?

No. Two good books though: "Head First HTML with CSS" and then follow
it with Lie & Bos "Cascading Style Sheets". I don't know any comparably
good books or websites.

 

[Nik Coughlin]

I'm in the beginning stages of learning CSS but I'm just not seeing
why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I can simply do
in HTML. What is the advantage of CSS? Any good CSS for "dummies"
sites? Thanks.

I'm in the beginning stages of learning to use a hammer to bang in nails but
I'm just not seeing why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I
can simply do by banging the nails in with a brick. What is the advantage
of using a hammer?

 

[dorayme]

I'm in the beginning stages of learning CSS but I'm just not seeing
why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I can simply do
in HTML. What is the advantage of CSS? Any good CSS for "dummies"
sites? Thanks.

A primary idea is division of labour. There is the basic
material: what you want to say, pictures, to show off or to
illustrate things. This is the html in as basic a form as you can
get. Headings, paragraphs, lists, pics. Then there is the styling
of all this. The same basic content can be styled in a variety of
different ways. You might want different styles for different
purposes at the same time (publishing the same basic things for
different audiences).

Take a look at <http://www.csszengarden.com/> to get the genral
idea.

If you mix up all your content with style and you later want to
change the style, it is a more difficult thing because you have
to dive in all over the html place, whereas, if you have done a
good job in the html and the style is controlled from a style
sheet, there is a central place you can operate on to fashion a
different style. It is also easier to add content to an html page
or add html pages knowing that you do not have to repeat all that
style information. It has already been taken care of, all you
paragraphs you have already said are to be indented or whatever
(in the css sheet). You will get the idea.

 

[Neredbojias]

I'm in the beginning stages of learning to use a hammer to bang in
nails but I'm just not seeing why I would use this. So far everything
I've learned I can simply do by banging the nails in with a brick.
What is the advantage of using a hammer?

Uh, this is a trick question, right?

--
Neredbojias

Never doubt
The path you've chosen.
If others mock,
Just thumb your nosin'.

-Burma Shave

 

[nmi]

The benefits of CSS

Hi oldbones!

Here is a site with explanations you might find useful:

http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info/html

 

[nmi]

Useful link

I'm in the beginning stages of learning CSS but I'm just not seeing
why I would use this. So far everything I've learned I can simply do
in HTML. What is the advantage of CSS? Any good CSS for "dummies"
sites? Thanks.

One more useful site with lots of examples:

http://w3schools.com/