Style sheets make it easier to implement two of the most significant trends in information design, single-sourcing or automated publishing, and the use of interactive and adaptive Web techniques.
CSS allows greater control over the display of pages that are assembled "on the fly" from a database for multiple output devices. Designers can create media-specific style sheets that adapt the same content to differing uses.
An @media handheld rule could tell the browser to stop displaying images and normal paragraph formats on pages to be viewed by palm-top computers and cell phones, and enable display of only special formats designed to fit on a tiny screen.
Used in tandem with the powerful meta-data features of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), style sheets can become one of the building blocks of a content management system that allows publishers to achieve the goal of writing once and reusing in multiple formats.
XSL, the Extensible Stylesheet Language, is designed to bridge the gap between XML and CSS in helping publishers create their own markup languages (Thomas 90). But when used with style sheets, plain vanilla HTML remains a potent force for automated publishing. In "Multipurpose Web Publishing," Lie argues that despite the fanfare over XML and XSL as metalanguages for use in database publishing, "Our central claim is that HTML, together with style sheets, should be rich enough to serve as a master document format for many publishers" (Lie & Saarela 100).
CSS2 also allows pages to respond to user actions without the use of scripting languages, although browser support is inconsistent. Internet Explorer 4.x and 5.0 both implement the pseudoclass hover, which allows link color, text size and style, and even background color to change with a mouseover. The cursor property enables designers to specify what style of cursor will be visible on mouseover of different page elements.
"In general, such declarative data formats as HTML, XML and CSS are recommended for stylistic effects in multipurpose publishing. Declarative data, which is easily converted to other formats, is more likely to be device independent and tends to live longer than programs" (Lie & Saarela 101). Designers of international websites could use the direction property to provide right-to-left text for users who prefer to read in such languages as Arabic and Hebrew.
As style sheets develop and browsers implement the changes, designers will be able to create more layout effects that respond to user actions without programming, moving closer to the goal of providing websites that adapt to the needs and preferences of their users.
Abstract, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Works cited
