benefits of css?

[windybanks]

Hi!

I've begun incorporating css into some of our clients websites, much to chagrin of some grumpy co-workers :rolleyes: due to differences in how browsers interpret the font sizes etc. So now I need to point out benefits. From what I've learned in past posts, benefits include quicker page loading, cleaner code, less text for spiders to read through, able to make site wide changes quickly. I think once we get a grip on creating the style sheets and get through the learning curve, it will be beneficial to our clients.

Any comments from you folks who have been using css for a while?

Thanks :)

[ihelpyou]

I do not use it but you are very right in the benefits you posted. That should be quite enough for any co-workers to understand. If not, they need to learn a few things.

[markymark]

I do use it and am a big CSS evangelist.

On the font size front, there is some debate over the best way to format these. I use px exclusively as this actually has a real relationship to browser choice, resolution and platform. I try to stick to 12 or 13px for main text, but if I have to drop lower, I always use verdana as it is the most readable standard font at smaller sizes.

Another advantage is this: you can dictate which elements on the page download first. With standard HTML, as you know, if you have a lot of images in a table at the top of the screen, these will have to download before the rest of the page. This is particularly true if you are using nested tables.

With CSS, this does not have to be the case. Using <div> tags and absolute positioning, you can arrange the code so that these images download last or ensure that the first thing that downloads is the main text or do whatever you like. People are more likely to stay on the page if they have the information they want quickly and while they are reading this, all your pretty images can be downloading.

The SEO advantages are obvious - you can still create very attractive pages with a text navigation bar across the top of the page, but ensure that this piece of code isn't the first thing the search engines read when spidering the pages.

Another positive is that css isn't that far removed from xml/xsl, and we will all need to know about this in the coming year or so. Once you have mastered css, the jump to formatting xml/xsl isn't great - so you and your clients will have the jump on multi-platform sites.

If these guys need any more convincing, I have lots of other reasons for taking the CSS approach :)

[windybanks]

Thanks!!

That's a huge help, and some great info also. Have not tried absolute positioning yet but that is a good next step.

You've given me lots of ammunition to fight the scandrals (really I'm crazy about them but they aren't involved in seo), BTW this is what got their dander up: http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2139877,00.html. Grand Canyon indeed! I don't think so

;)

[markymark]

Windybanks,

are you serious about that article ? That can't really be their problem. That article is years old - it is talking about 4.x browsers as the current implementation. Don't know about you, but IE and Netscape are both up to version 6 and the number of users still using 3.0 browsers is less than the number of words in this sentence. That whole article is irrelevant to CSS/Browser Compatibility. Since my last post, I have been trying to find a CSS tutorial type site that I have bookmarked somewhere that should change their minds literally within one click.

Basically this site uses CSS formatting for everything from layout to font size and there is a link to click that will re-format the page using a different .css file. The difference is remarkable and will show the power of this technology to any doubters. One problem, though, I can't find the URL yet !

[markymark]

Oh, I am an idiot. Found it. It is the Bradsoft site (makers of the fabulous TopStyle CSS editor)

The link is this : www.bradsoft.com/topstyle/index.asp

Half way down the page is a link that says 'use alternate style sheet'. Click it and the page is reformatted with a different style sheet, all the content, however, remains the same. If that doesn't convince them, then take them out back one by one and sort them out the old fashioned way.

[windybanks]

:D

That is cool! Thanks for your help, MarkyMark. I look forward to doing some convincing one way or another.

Personally I've happy with my NS4.7 and IE5 but maybe it's time for an upgrade :(