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= Cascading Style Sheets =


Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a language for describing the visual appearance of a text and images in a web browser.  CSS is a declarative-style programming language; specific visual properties (for instance font size, or background color) get applied to page elements based on matching ''rules'' and ''selectors''.
=Styling with CSS=


http://www.w3.org/css
==CSS - Cascading Style Sheets ==
HTML is not meant to style (inline syling eg: <pre><h1 style="color:red;background:black></pre> is old fashion and discouraged).
 
'''CSS is the preferred to way to style.'''
* HTML tell the browser what content it should display
* CSS tells the browser '''how to display''' that content.
 
==CSS inside an HTML page==
* CSS code goes '''inside the style tags''' <code><style> ... </style></code>
*  <code><style> ... </style></code> tags are '''placed inside the head''' of the HTML page.
 
<source lang="html4strict">
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <style>
 
    body{
            background: #FF19DC;
    color: black;
    font-family: mono;
        }
 
  </style>
  </head>
  </html>
  <body></body>
  </html>
</source>
 
== anatomy of a css rule ==
Each CSS style sheet (all the styles of a page) is made of several rules.
 
Each '''rule''' follows the syntax:
 
[[File:Basic-Anatomy-of-a-CSS-Rule1.png|600px|]]
 
<small>Source: http://dabrook.org/resources/posters/</small>
 
 
==Example of a CSS rule==
* '''element''': what element(s) is being styled e.g. ''div''
* '''property''': what property of that element is being styled e.g. ''color''
* '''value''': how the property is styled e.g. ''white''
 
<source lang="css">
div {
      background: blue;
      color: white;
      width: 500px;
      height: 250px;
      font-size:30pt;
        }
</source>
 
Here we are styling all the div elements in the html page.
 
 
==CSS Properties==
 
'''CSS Property reference''' https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference
 
Some properties.
* color, background-color, width, height
* border, box-shadow, list-style
* margin, padding
* [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/transform transform], gradient, border-radius
 
'''Use some of these properties, and others that you discover in your page.'''
 
 
 
 
=Inspecting a page=
The browser (Chrome and Firefox) offer the possibility of inspecting a page with the option '''Inspect Element'''.
 
This possibility allows for prototyping (changing and seeing immediately the result ) a page's CSS and HTML.
 
'''Keep in mind that this changes WILL NOT be saved.
To do so you need to copy them to the editor and save them.
'''
 
 
 
 
 
 
= a separate CSS file  =
The CSS for a HTML page (or several pages) can stored outside that page, in '''css file.
 
To do that we need link the HTML file to the CSS file, using the tag link inside the html head.
 
<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" />
 
<source lang="html4strict">
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" />
  </head>
  <body>
  ....
</source>
 
----
 
 
=selectors=
CSS selectors allow the selection of html elements to be styled.<br/>
Their scope can be very broad, such as all the elements (*), or all the elements that that share a given tag.<br/>
To more fine grained selectors, like descendents and id.<br/>
To pseudo class selectors, that are triggered by a certain action.<br/>
 
 
==element==
<code>p {font-weight:bold}</p>
==All(star)==
<code>*</code>. Star targets all the elements in a page <code>p {font-weight:bold}</code>
==id==
* <code>#</code>. Id targets the (only 1) element with the given id <code>p#foo {font-weight:bold}</code>.
* It help ''distinguish'' elements with the same tag.
* the same id cannot be repeated in the same file. Use only once.
 
==class==
* <code>.</code>. Class targets several elements that share the same class <code>.bar {color: blue} </code>
* class can be used INFINITE TIMES in a file
* It help ''uniforming'' elements with different tags.
 
==descendents==
elements that are descendents another element, like the anchors within a list item, and not other anchors  <code>li a{color:gree;}</code>.
==direct descendents==
elements that '''direct children''' of another element
<code>li > a{color:gree;}</code>.
==pseudo classes==
E.g.
* All links that have been visited <code>a:visited {transform: rotate(0.5turn)}</code>;
* when hoverving a link  <code>a:hover{background: red;}</code>
 
More on Pseudo Classes: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/CSS/Pseudo-classes
 
More on CSS selectors in
* https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/Guide/CSS/Getting_started/Selectors
* https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-30-css-selectors-you-must-memorize--net-16048
 
 
= Positioning =
Example: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/VKKWgY
 
==position:static==
* the default position
* dont offset possibilities
* are positioned according to their default behavior
==position: relative;==
* very similar to that of the static value
* Main difference: relative value accepts box offset properties top, right, bottom left.
* Box offset properties allow precise positioning
 
 
==position: absolute==
* elements accept box offset properties (left,right, top, bottom)
* elements are removed from the normal flow of the document
* and positioned in relation to the body element
* off-set property are set in relation to the body and not containing element. E.g. <code>top: 10px;</code> will place the element 10px offset from the top of the browser window.
 
'''Interesting art work using absolute position and Google books image:
http://www.julienlevesque.net/books-scapes/
'''
 
==position: fixed==
* similar to absolute: off-set set in relation to the body
* but the '''positioning is relative to the browser viewport'''
* not scrolling with the page.
* always present, as if fixed to the screen
 
Based on http://learn.shayhowe.com/advanced-html-css/detailed-css-positioning/
 
 
=Display=
Example: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/mAAwLJ
 
Every element on a web page is a rectangular box.
 
The CSS display property determines how that rectangular is displayed next to its sibling elements.
 
==<nowiki>inline</nowiki>==
elements are displayed in a line. http://htmldog.com/figures/displayInline.png
 
==block==
Each element is standalone, occupying the entire width of its parent box and line breaks before and after it. http://htmldog.com/figures/displayBlock.png
 
==inline-block==
display the element in a line, like inline, but allows more formatting possibilities: width, height, margin to the right and left of the box.
 
==none==
Turns off the display of the element
 
The default value is inline.
 
 
More on display property on:
* http://htmldog.com/guides/css/intermediate/display/
* https://css-tricks.com/almanac/properties/d/display/
 
 
----
 
=CSS for typography=
 
==essential typography properties==
* font-size:  ''body in pt, rest of elements in em''
* font-height: regular or bold
* font-style
* font-family
* color
* text-align
* line-height
* letter-spacing: increases or decreases the space between characters( negative values are allowed)
* text-shadow
 
 
==Using fonts==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! '''system fonts'''
! '''custom fonts'''
|-
| ready to use
| need to load or upload
|-
| limited set
| broad range
|-
| change slightly in each user's computer
| remain the same to all users
|-
| too familiar
| fresh
|}
 
==system fonts==
System fonts are generic fonts.
* Sans­serif
* Serif
* Monospace
* Cursive
 
===system fonts example===
<source lang="html4strict">
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <style>
body {
  font-size: 10pt;
}
 
p {font-family: cursive;
  font-size: 3em;
}
 
p.other {font-family: sansserif}
 
span.yetanother {font-family: monospace}
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>Cursive generict font</p>
    <p class="other">Testig another generic font.
      <span class="yetanother">And yet another one</span>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
</source>
 
 
==custom fonts==
''The @font-face CSS at-rule allows authors to specify online fonts to display text on their web pages.'' [https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/CSS/@font-face Mozilla @font-face]
 
===Web fonts formats===
Different font formats exist:
* Web Open Font Format (.woff)
* TrueType/OpenType (.ttf/.otf)
* Scalable Vector Graphics Fonts (.svg)
 
Currently, most browsers support these font formats, with the exception of .svg, that is only supported by Firefox. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_typography#File_formats Wikipidia article] on Web fonts.
 
=== use a custom font ===
To use a custom font, the font file has to be stored somewhere, either '''locally''' (same folder as your site).
 
You can download a sample of display fonts from: http://publicationstation.wdka.hro.nl/displayfonts.zip
Containing:Amatic-Bold.ttf, AmaticSC-Regular.ttf, GrandHotel-Regular.otf, Pacifico.ttf
 
try changing the following example with other custom font
<source lang="html4strict">
<html>
<head>
  <style type="text/css">
 
    @font-face {
      font-family: "Pacifico";
      src: url("fonts/Pacifico.ttf");
    }
   
    h1 { font-family: "Pacifico", serif;
    font-weight: normal;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>This is a custom font.</h1>
</body>
</html>
</source>
 
==fonts and licenses==
We can use this fonts and even make a commercial (for which we receive money) website, using that font, without paying for the font.
 
It is not because the font is free (of charge), but because they are '''open'''.
 
They are released under a '''SIL Open Font License''' (OPF).
 
===SIL license===
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL_web
 
License:
* allows fonts to be '''used, studied, modified and redistributed freely'''.
* fonts, including any derivative works, can be bundled, embedded,
redistributed and/or '''sold with any software'''.
* fonts and derivatives, however, '''cannot be released under any other type of license'''.
* requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply
to any document created using the fonts or their derivatives.
 
=== Apache license===
http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/sinkin-sans
 
===open fonts libraries===
* https://fontlibrary.org
* http://fontsquirrel.com/ 
 
==remote custom fonts==
It is possible to use custom fonts, that are not stored locally, and instead "live" in a service like Google Fonts or Open Font Library.
 
This method is:
* convenient
* easier
but, on the down-side:
* it takes more time to load the page
* the font can be removed at any point by the service 
 
===remote custom font example===
Using the font https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/barrio and following the "Use this font" instructions:
 
<source lang="html4strict">
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" href="https://fontlibrary.org/face/barrio" type="text/css"/>
 
  <style type="text/css">
   
    h1 {  font-family: 'BarrioRegular';
          font-weight: normal;
          font-style: normal;
    font-size: 3em;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>This is a remote custom font.</h1>
</body>
</html>
</source>
 
 
 
= Online Resources on CSS =
* CSS Property reference https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference
* Lynda.com CSS-Selectors (Part 1) http://www.lynda.com/CSS-tutorials/CSS-Selectors/192036-2.html?org=hr.nl
* Lynda.com CSS Gradients (Part2,3) http://www.lynda.com/CSS-tutorials/Exploring-linear-syntax/115467/122823-4.html
* http://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/007/center.en.html
* [https://hacks.mozilla.org/2009/06/beautiful-fonts-with-font-face/beautiful fonts with @font-face]
* [https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/CSS/@font-face Mozilla @fontface]
 
 
 
= Art works, making heavy use of CSS =
* Florian Cramer ''Local Impro Snodge '' http://cramer.pleintekst.nl/deplayer-impro-snodge/ - essencially gifs and CSS
* Julien Levesque [http://p-dpa.net/work/books-scapes/ Books Scapes] - digital landscape consisting of 100 details taken from books hosted on Google Books http://www.julienlevesque.net/books-scapes/.
* Olia Lialina [http://www.teleportacia.org/war/ My boyfriend came back from the war]

Revision as of 14:09, 19 September 2016

Styling with CSS

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

HTML is not meant to style (inline syling eg: 

<h1 style="color:red;background:black>

is old fashion and discouraged).

CSS is the preferred to way to style.

  • HTML tell the browser what content it should display
  • CSS tells the browser how to display that content.

CSS inside an HTML page

  • CSS code goes inside the style tags <style> ... </style>
  • <style> ... </style> tags are placed inside the head of the HTML page.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
    <style>

     body{
            background: #FF19DC;
	    color: black;
	    font-family: mono;
			        }

   </style>
   </head>
   </html>
   <body></body>
   </html>

anatomy of a css rule

Each CSS style sheet (all the styles of a page) is made of several rules.

Each rule follows the syntax:

Basic-Anatomy-of-a-CSS-Rule1.png

Source: http://dabrook.org/resources/posters/


Example of a CSS rule

  • element: what element(s) is being styled e.g. div
  • property: what property of that element is being styled e.g. color
  • value: how the property is styled e.g. white
div {
      background: blue;
      color: white;
      width: 500px;
      height: 250px;
      font-size:30pt;
	         }

Here we are styling all the div elements in the html page.


CSS Properties

CSS Property reference https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference

Some properties.

  • color, background-color, width, height
  • border, box-shadow, list-style
  • margin, padding
  • transform, gradient, border-radius

Use some of these properties, and others that you discover in your page.



Inspecting a page

The browser (Chrome and Firefox) offer the possibility of inspecting a page with the option Inspect Element.

This possibility allows for prototyping (changing and seeing immediately the result ) a page's CSS and HTML.

Keep in mind that this changes WILL NOT be saved. To do so you need to copy them to the editor and save them.




a separate CSS file

The CSS for a HTML page (or several pages) can stored outside that page, in css file.

To do that we need link the HTML file to the CSS file, using the tag link inside the html head. 

<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
  <link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" />
  </head>
  <body>
  ....


selectors

CSS selectors allow the selection of html elements to be styled.
Their scope can be very broad, such as all the elements (*), or all the elements that that share a given tag.
To more fine grained selectors, like descendents and id.
To pseudo class selectors, that are triggered by a certain action.


element

p {font-weight:bold}

All(star)

*. Star targets all the elements in a page p {font-weight:bold}

id

  • #. Id targets the (only 1) element with the given id p#foo {font-weight:bold}.
  • It help distinguish elements with the same tag.
  • the same id cannot be repeated in the same file. Use only once.

class

  • .. Class targets several elements that share the same class .bar {color: blue}
  • class can be used INFINITE TIMES in a file
  • It help uniforming elements with different tags.

descendents

elements that are descendents another element, like the anchors within a list item, and not other anchors li a{color:gree;}.

direct descendents

elements that direct children of another element li > a{color:gree;}.

pseudo classes

E.g.

  • All links that have been visited a:visited {transform: rotate(0.5turn)};
  • when hoverving a link a:hover{background: red;}

More on Pseudo Classes: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/CSS/Pseudo-classes

More on CSS selectors in


Positioning

Example: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/VKKWgY

position:static

  • the default position
  • dont offset possibilities
  • are positioned according to their default behavior

position: relative;

  • very similar to that of the static value
  • Main difference: relative value accepts box offset properties top, right, bottom left.
  • Box offset properties allow precise positioning


position: absolute

  • elements accept box offset properties (left,right, top, bottom)
  • elements are removed from the normal flow of the document
  • and positioned in relation to the body element
  • off-set property are set in relation to the body and not containing element. E.g. top: 10px; will place the element 10px offset from the top of the browser window.

Interesting art work using absolute position and Google books image: http://www.julienlevesque.net/books-scapes/

position: fixed

  • similar to absolute: off-set set in relation to the body
  • but the positioning is relative to the browser viewport
  • not scrolling with the page.
  • always present, as if fixed to the screen

Based on http://learn.shayhowe.com/advanced-html-css/detailed-css-positioning/


Display

Example: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/mAAwLJ

Every element on a web page is a rectangular box.

The CSS display property determines how that rectangular is displayed next to its sibling elements.

inline

elements are displayed in a line. displayInline.png

block

Each element is standalone, occupying the entire width of its parent box and line breaks before and after it. displayBlock.png

inline-block

display the element in a line, like inline, but allows more formatting possibilities: width, height, margin to the right and left of the box.

none

Turns off the display of the element

The default value is inline.


More on display property on:


CSS for typography

essential typography properties

  • font-size: body in pt, rest of elements in em
  • font-height: regular or bold
  • font-style
  • font-family
  • color
  • text-align
  • line-height
  • letter-spacing: increases or decreases the space between characters( negative values are allowed)
  • text-shadow


Using fonts

system fonts custom fonts
ready to use need to load or upload
limited set broad range
change slightly in each user's computer remain the same to all users
too familiar fresh

system fonts

System fonts are generic fonts.

  • Sans­serif
  • Serif
  • Monospace
  • Cursive

system fonts example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <style>
body {
   font-size: 10pt;
}

p {font-family: cursive;
   font-size: 3em;
}

p.other {font-family: sansserif}

span.yetanother {font-family: monospace}
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>Cursive generict font</p>
    <p class="other">Testig another generic font. 
      <span class="yetanother">And yet another one</span>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>


custom fonts

The @font-face CSS at-rule allows authors to specify online fonts to display text on their web pages. Mozilla @font-face

Web fonts formats

Different font formats exist:

  • Web Open Font Format (.woff)
  • TrueType/OpenType (.ttf/.otf)
  • Scalable Vector Graphics Fonts (.svg)

Currently, most browsers support these font formats, with the exception of .svg, that is only supported by Firefox. See Wikipidia article on Web fonts.

use a custom font

To use a custom font, the font file has to be stored somewhere, either locally (same folder as your site).

You can download a sample of display fonts from: http://publicationstation.wdka.hro.nl/displayfonts.zip Containing:Amatic-Bold.ttf, AmaticSC-Regular.ttf, GrandHotel-Regular.otf, Pacifico.ttf

try changing the following example with other custom font 

<html>
<head>
  <style type="text/css">

    @font-face {
      font-family: "Pacifico";
      src: url("fonts/Pacifico.ttf");
    }
    
    h1 { font-family: "Pacifico", serif;
    font-weight: normal;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>This is a custom font.</h1>
</body>
</html>

fonts and licenses

We can use this fonts and even make a commercial (for which we receive money) website, using that font, without paying for the font.

It is not because the font is free (of charge), but because they are open.

They are released under a SIL Open Font License (OPF).

SIL license

http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL_web

License:

  • allows fonts to be used, studied, modified and redistributed freely.
  • fonts, including any derivative works, can be bundled, embedded,

redistributed and/or sold with any software.

  • fonts and derivatives, however, cannot be released under any other type of license.
  • requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply

to any document created using the fonts or their derivatives.

Apache license

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/sinkin-sans

open fonts libraries

remote custom fonts

It is possible to use custom fonts, that are not stored locally, and instead "live" in a service like Google Fonts or Open Font Library.

This method is:

  • convenient
  • easier

but, on the down-side:

  • it takes more time to load the page
  • the font can be removed at any point by the service

remote custom font example

Using the font https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/barrio and following the "Use this font" instructions: 

<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" href="https://fontlibrary.org/face/barrio" type="text/css"/> 

  <style type="text/css">
    
    h1 {   font-family: 'BarrioRegular';
           font-weight: normal;
           font-style: normal; 
    font-size: 3em;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>This is a remote custom font.</h1>
</body>
</html>


Online Resources on CSS


Art works, making heavy use of CSS

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