Difference between CSS and JavaScript


A website is developed using HTML. HTML is the backbone and provides the skeleton for the website. But using HTML alone, we can’t create our desired website. Cascade styling sheets is another language that adds another layer to the website. It applies formatting to the website, changes the layout of the website and makes the website appear beautiful. JavaScript is a programming language that makes a website functionable. It adds animations, pop up screens and a lot more to interact with the user.

What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a language which is used to style the HTML documents. Using CSS, we can change the document style such as page layout, color, font color, font style etc.,

HTML just creates a website i.e it acts as a backbone for creating a website. This website doesn’t look attractive. Although HTML have some of the styling attributes, they are not enough for a website to look beautiful. CSS is used to change the appearance of this website and provides an attractive user interface.

The syntax of a CSS code consists mainly of two parts- selector and declaration. Consider the following example:

p { background-color : blue; }

Here, "p" represents the selector. Selector refers to the HTML tag that we are formatting. "p" is the paragraph tag. Everything within the curly braces is the declaration. Declaration represents the formatting applied to the selector.

CSS can be declared in three ways- external, internal and inline.

  • External CSS − Here, the CSS is written in a separate file with an .css extension. All the CSS code is written in this file and linked to the main HTML file.

  • Internal CSS − Here, the CSS is present within the HTML document and written in the head section using style tags. The formatting for the whole page is written here.

  • Inline CSS − Here, the CSS properties are mentioned inside the tag that we want to format.

Advantages of CSS

  • CSS makes the pages look more attractive than a normal HTML page

  • We can write this code once and apply to all the pages. Hence it is time saving as there is no need to write it for each and every single page

  • As the number of lines of code reduces, it loads faster

  • One can change the style of an entire page by simply changing the CSS style

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a front-end programming language used in web development. It makes the web pages dynamic and interactive with users. HTML creates website (structure layer), CSS makes it more attractive (design layer) and JavaScript allows the users to interact with these websites rather than simply viewing (logical layer). Pop up screens, live updates, etc., are all done with the help of JavaScript.

Previously, it was only used in developing websites. But JavaScript has a wide range of applications. It can be used to develop various applications for Android, iOS and windows. One can even develop games using JS.

JavaScript is more complex and in order to make it simple, developers created frameworks for JavaScript. JavaScript frameworks are improved version of pure/vanilla JavaScript. They have their own concepts and syntax along with the original JavaScript.

Most popular frameworks of JavaScript are ReactJS, AngularJS and VueJS. These are front-end languages whereas NodeJS is the framework developed for backend. Hence JavaScript is used on both client side (front end) and server side (back end).

Advantages of JavaScript

  • JavaScript executes fast as it requires no compilation. It is an interpreted language and connects to the server faster.

  • It is used for both front-end and back-end development

  • It can be used with other languages

  • Interactive interfaces can be made using JavaScript

  • One can develop a complete application using only JavaScript

Difference between CSS and JavaScript

The following table highlights the major differences between CSS and JavaScript −

CSS

JavaScript

CSS is a styling language that designs the interface of the websites

JavaScript is a light weight programming language which helps in making interactive web pages

The file extension of CSS is ".css"

The file extension of JavaScript is ".js"

It is defined using <style> tag

It is defined by using <script> tag

CSS is simple and easy

JavaScript is complex and somewhat difficult compared to CSS

An error in CSS code doesn’t affect the entire website. The website runs as usual except that formatting might not be applied

Any error in the code of JavaScript results in complete breakdown of the website

CSS is supported by all browsers

It is supported by almost all major browsers

It adds colors, changes font styles, layouts etc.,

It adds animations, embedded video media, etc.

Conclusion

CSS and JavaScript play an important role in creating a website. While CSS designs the layout of the interface, JavaScript makes the website dynamic. Users can interact with websites. Using JavaScript for creating a website may be optional but one can’t create a website without CSS.

Updated on: 19-Apr-2023

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