Beginning ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB

3.5. Summary

This chapter gave you a good look at CSS, the most important language for styling your ASPX and HTML web pages.

CSS allows you to overcome the limitations of HTML with respect to styling your web pages as it is designed to minimize page bloat, give you greater control over the looks of your page, and generally help you create web sites that load quicker and that are easier to maintain.

Due to its simple set of grammar rules, CSS is relatively easy to learn. There is some important terminology that you need to be aware of before you can start using the full potential of CSS. First, you have to understand what a rule set or a rule is. A rule is a combination of a selector and one or more declarations that define the look of elements on your page. The selector is used to point to one or more elements in your page; the declaration determines how that element should look. The declaration itself can be split in two parts: the property and the value. The property determines what part of the element selected by the selector must be styled, while the value determines how it ends up.

When you have a good understanding of the CSS terminology, you'll find it's easier to work with the many CSS tools that VWD has on board. Tools like the Manage Styles and Apply Styles window, the Style Builder, and the smart IntelliSense in the code editor make writing CSS a breeze. Instead of remembering every little detail about CSS, you can rely on the built-in tools to write proper CSS for ...