CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.
CSS describes how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, paper, or in other media.
Styling HTML with CSS
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.
CSS describes how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, paper, or in other media.
CSS saves a lot of work. It can control the layout of multiple web pages all at once.
CSS can be added to HTML elements in 3 ways:
Inline – by using the style attribute in HTML elements
Internal – by using a <style> element in the <head> section
External – by using an external CSS file
The most common way to add CSS, is to keep the styles in separate CSS files. However, here we will use inline and internal styling, because this is easier to demonstrate, and easier for you to try it yourself.
Inline CSS
An inline CSS is used to apply a unique style to a single HTML element.
An inline CSS uses the style attribute of an HTML element.
This example sets the text color of the <h1> element to blue:
Example
<h1 style="color:blue;">This is a Blue Heading</h1>
Internal CSS
An internal CSS is used to define a style for a single HTML page.
An internal CSS is defined in the <head> section of an HTML page, within a <style> element:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
body {background-color: powderblue;}
h1 {color: blue;}
p {color: red;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
External CSS
An external style sheet is used to define the style for many HTML pages.
With an external style sheet, you can change the look of an entire web site, by changing one file!
To use an external style sheet, add a link to it in thesection of the HTML page:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
An external style sheet can be written in any text editor. The file must not contain any HTML code, and must be saved with a .css extension.
Here is how the “styles.css” looks:
body {
background-color: powderblue;
}
h1 {
color: blue;
}
p {
color: red;
}
CSS Fonts
The CSS color property defines the text color to be used.
The CSS font-family property defines the font to be used.
The CSS font-size property defines the text size to be used.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
color: blue;
font-family: verdana;
font-size: 300%;
}
p {
color: red;
font-family: courier;
font-size: 160%;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
CSS Border
The CSS border property defines a border around an HTML element:
Example
p {
border: 1px solid powderblue;
}
CSS Padding
The CSS padding property defines a padding (space) between the text and the border:
Example
p {
border: 1px solid powderblue;
padding: 30px;
}
CSS Margin
The CSS margin property defines a margin (space) outside the border:
Example
p {
border: 1px solid powderblue;
margin: 50px;
}
The id Attribute
To define a specific style for one special element, add an id attribute to the element:
<p id="p01">I am different</p>
then define a style for the element with the specific id:
Example
#p01 {
color: blue;
}
Note: The id of an element should be unique within a page, so the id selector is used to select one unique element!
The class Attribute
To define a style for special types of elements, add a class attribute to the element:
<p class="error">I am different</p>
then define a style for the elements with the specific class:
Example
p.error {
color: red;
}
External References
External style sheets can be referenced with a full URL or with a path relative to the current web page.
This example uses a full URL to link to a style sheet:
Example
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.w3schools.com/html/styles.css">
This example links to a style sheet located in the html folder on the current web site:
Example
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/html/styles.css">
This example links to a style sheet located in the same folder as the current page:
Example
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
You can read more about file paths in the chapter HTML File Paths.
Chapter Summary
Use the HTML style attribute for inline styling
Use the HTML <style> element to define internal CSS
Use the HTML <link> element to refer to an external CSS file
Use the HTML <head> element to store <style> and <link> elements
Use the CSS color property for text colors
Use the CSS font-family property for text fonts
Use the CSS font-size property for text sizes
Use the CSS border property for borders
Use the CSS padding property for space inside the border
Use the CSS margin property for space outside the border
HTML Style Tags
Tag Description
<style> Defines style information for an HTML document
<link> Defines a link between a document and an external resource
For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.