CSS, what is it and what does it do for us?

CSS stands for Cascading Styling Sheets. It is a computer language for describing the layout and presentation of a document written in HTML to your screen or other viewing medium. CSS was first created by Håkon Wium Lie in the mid 1990's while working with Tim Berners-Lee.

What are the advantages that CSS brings to the word of coding?

1. CSS saves time! CSS saves its style definitions (formatting characteristics) in external .css files. With this file separate from the HTML file (which contains its structure and informational content) you can easily change the look and style of your website by changing the external file rather than going within and rewriting the code.

2. CSS allows for faster download times, which enhances the performance of a website overall. CSS achieves this through a variety of means. As mentioned before the CSS file is saved separate from the HTML, this allows the layout to be applied across multiple pages which allows the computer to save the information rather than redownload it each time navigating from page to page. .css files can also be compressed resulting in faster download times. The code is lightweight, few lines equals less time downloading.

3. Lightweight code. You don't need a ton of code to get CSS to do what you want it to do. This makes it beginner friendly, easy to understand, and manipulate. That's one thing that makes CSS so fun! You can easily see the changes and play around with the look of a website to achieve your desired aesthetic.

Here is an example of how you could modify a paragraphs font. What do you think the code is modifying about the paragraph?

What if we wanted a link to stand out? Show if it's been visited, highlighted, or in use? CSS simplifies this easily!
Here I'll show you,

Finally if you want to create a text box you just need this short and simple code in .css

4.CSS allows for better accessibility. CSS stying can give you your desired look without messing with the structure. It can make it easier for people who need larger text or a grey scale for reading to override the CSS as it does not mess with the semantics and structure of the website.

These are not the only benefits of using CSS to style your webpages but for now why not try a few simple ones yourself and see what you come up with! Remember to have fun and let your creative side shine!

Resources:
(https://byby.dev/css-evolution#:~:text=CSS%20(Cascading%20Style%20Sheets)%20was,it%20apart%20from%20the%20rest.)

(https://www.boia.org/blog/how-css-benefits-accessibility)