Explain About the Ease Of Maintenance With CSS


Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS in short, is used when we need to apply styles to our websites. The use of CSS makes it easier for us to make a website presentable. It separates the structure, which is made up of HTML document, from the presentation, which implies the part which the user sees and interacts with.

Why do we need CSS for presentation

Having a different and creative style has become a must have property for a website, as it makes the website fun to interact with, instead of a plain and dull looking website which can be made using only HTML.

There are three ways with which we can apply CSS to our website −

  • Inline styling − When we apply the styling to each individual HTML tag then that is referred to as inline styling.

    An example of inline styling in CSS is given below.

<h1 style=”font-size: larger”> This is an example of using inline styling in CSS </h1>
  • Embedded styling − When the style tag is nested inside the head tag, making it such that the CSS seems embedded inside an HTML file. Then it is referred to as Embedded styling.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
   <title>Embedded Styling</title>
   <style>
      h1 {
         color: aquamarine;
      }
   </style>
</head>
<body>
   <h1>This is an example of embedded styling being used in HTML.</h1>
</body>
</html>
  • External styling − This is the most recommended way of using CSS as it separates the CSS from HTML by using a .CSS file which contain all the style information and is then linked to the HTML document. We can attach more than one CSS file by using this styling method.

An example of using external styling in CSS is given below.

<head>
   <link rel=”stylesheet” href=”style.css”>
</head>

What was before CSS?

Before CSS was available, HTML introduced tags like <font> or color attributes which was used for styling purposes. But large websites that incorporated font and color information to each page were time-consuming and expensive process to create. This is why CSS was introduced which eliminated HTML formatting using such weird tags.

The introduction of CSS separated the structure and styling, where HTML was used for structuring the web page while CSS focused on incorporating style and presentation in the webpage.

Advantages of CSS and Ease of Maintenance

As we already know that CSS provides easy formatting options for us to improve the presentation of our web page. But that is not all it does. The major advantages of using CSS are listed below.

  • For simple websites, we can use CSS inside the HTML document, while for a large website we can create separate CSS files. This provides us the choice as to which form of CSS should we use depending on our website.

  • It has better community support.

  • Earlier we had to specify the font, color, etc. for each web page separately, but the introduction of CSS made this complex and lengthy procedure into a much simpler process.

  • We can save time as error detection and correction can be made easy by using CSS files instead of incorporating it into the document itself. Updating that one file can update all the style information throughout our websites.

  • It makes the process of loading the web page fast as we are only applying rules and styles to each tag only once as compared to HTML formatting where we had to use tags like <font> etc. for styling. Less code makes the download time for the document much less, which implies faster page load.

  • It also provides easier maintenance as it makes the formatting global which can be modified by altering the style on that global formatting. We no longer have to modify the formatting and style on each page separately for each element.

  • We can use CSS for multiple devices as it is compatible for almost all possible devices. This multi device compatibility gives it a huge advantage in the modern world of computing.

  • Due to its simplicity and popularity, it has now become a skill that is required for every web developer. Designing a website creatively is what makes your website stand out from others and CSS is the language that provides us with the ability to do so.

  • It completely transforms the dull and plain website into a stylish and attractive website which will pull the users attention and make it fun for them to interact with the website, which was not possible by just using HTML.

  • Increased user experience by giving the ability create wonderful UI which helps the users to navigate the website easily by eliminating the complexity of the rigid design of HTML.

  • It is needed by every web developer to give life to their designs.

  • Platform independence is consistently provided by the Script, which also works with the most recent browsers.

  • The term "cascading" implies that we can employ multiple styles, with local styles predominating. The local style assignment might take the place of the global style declaration.

These advantages are enough to explain the ease of maintenance that CSS provides. Along with these, we can also use CSS to create a responsive website(using media queries), which is an emerging requirement for modern websites. Without CSS, web creation is not feasible. CSS may initially seem challenging, but after a few ideas are understood, CSS will feel incredibly straightforward and uncomplicated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, CSS is a great tool for achieving maintainable websites. This allows developers to make changes quickly and easily without having to rewrite large amounts of code or worry about compatibility issues. Additionally, CSS provides the ability to reuse styles across multiple pages, reducing development and maintenance time and ensuring consistency across your site. Overall, CSS is a powerful and cheap way to make your site easier to maintain over the long term.

Updated on: 27-Feb-2023

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