Is CSS a part of HTML?

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Table of Contents

Questions have been asked about this, whether CSS is a part of HTML or not. In this article, you are going to see why CSS is a part of HTML based on its features and workability. Before we dive into the main content, what do you think or what can you say when asked to describe this? Regardless of whatever clue you may have, in this article, you are going to know everything about CSS and HTML and whether CSS is a part of HTML.

To begin with, CSS is an abbreviation that stands for “Cascading Style Sheet.” In CSS, the major emphasis is on style; this is because the key function of CSS is to specify the style in your document page layout, which includes colors and fonts. This is the key function of CSS.

Having said that, switch your brain to HTML now. What is it, and what is it used for. Unlike CSS, HTML is used to give the structure of a webpage document; this includes functions like defining headlines and paragraphs, providing space to embed videos, images, and other media in general.

in trying to give this a general scope, you will find that HTML is the foundation while CSS is the aesthetic choice. It is clear you don’t understand this at this point; hold on, that’s what we are going to learn more about in this article.

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Now, let’s see briefly how CSS works. First, it brings styles to your web page. It does this by being intact with HTML elements. Elements are the separated web page of HTML components. An example, in this case, is the paragraph. In case you want to change the color of your paragraph to something else, let’s say pink, you’ll use CSS code.
Now you are in a better position to define what CSS is.

CSS is a language used to describe the webpage presentation. These presentations include fonts, colors, and layout. CSS allows a developer to get used to presentations with different devices. These include both small and large screen devices, printers, etc.
As a developer, always have it in mind that CSS can operate independently; that is to say, its operation is not dependent on HTML. In addition to this, it can be used with any type of XML-based Markup language.

Is CSS part of HTML?
Is CSS part of HTML?

Does HTML include CSS?

What do you think about this! Does HTML contain CSS features? What you should have in mind, in this case, is that HTML and CSS are the main scripting languages; they are primarily used to develop web pages and their applications. 

There are several ways of adding CSS to HTML. In this article, you are only going to learn how to do it in three ways.

  • Inline Style

The very first way of adding CSS into HTML is by adopting a method called inline styling. What is inline styling? Inline styling is the addition of CSS rules into HTML tags or elements directly with the style attribute.

For instance, in case you want to change the text color of any element, the first thing you’ll need to do is to add a style factor to that element. The second is to define one or more CSS rules inside the quotes. In daily programming, inline styles are not used, because they are only focused to a single HTML element. 

  • Internal CSS

This is the second way of adding CSS to HTML. If you want to use this method, you must use an HTML tag called < style> Tag. It is between the style tags that you will write your CSS rules and selectors.

This second approach of adding CSS into an HTML file is still not worth it. This is because we need to keep HTML and CSS in different files, this second option doesn’t offer this, and hence this is what leads us to the third way.

  • External CSS

Having CSS and HTML separated is a good practice. As a senior programmer, you need to have HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all in a different file; then, later on, you’ll need to bring them where they are required. By doing this, you will have improved the readability and code maintenance. 

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How does CSS work with HTML?

CSS and HTML are different scripting languages. However, some of their functions are dependent; hence they work together as programming languages. Despite the fact that they add value to each other, they have some differences.

The significant difference between HTML and CSS is that HTML is commonly used to create web pages, whereas CSS is used to control the layout and style of web pages created by HTML.

While using HTML, you need to write words first, after which you incorporate elements to it, the elements will appear on your page, and the browser you are using will get to know the headline of the page, its beginning, and how it ends. It does this to paragraphs as well. In CSS, there are properties that must be used. These properties are classed into two categories. These are:

  1. A presentation that will specify the text color, type of fonts, sizes, background colors, and images as well.
  2. The layout. It defines the location of elements on the screen.

On the other hand, HTML’s basic functionality is its ability to dictate the content structure on the webpage. You will find that CSS will have to modify the design of the HTML elements. This shows a better sample of correlation. In terms of relevance, it is possible to use CSS in HTML files, but you can’t use HTML in CSS style sheets.

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Can you use CSS without HTML?

What do you think as a developer? Is it possible to use CSS minus HTML? This is what many developers need to understand. In the real sense, it may seem impossible but remember; some smart developers have done this with a lot of success. In this article, you will see how this is possible and if time allows, you’ll see how it is done.

Shall we proceed!

HTML is regarded as the basis of the whole web page on the world. Minus HTML, the Internet would not have achieved what it has achieved today. However, a developer by the name of Mathias Bynens has more than proven that a web page can be built with CSS alone without involving HTML> This seems so strange! It is good to always remember that this is a very tricky trick that should not be used on a real website.

Mathias is found to have used two tricks in CSS that are not commonly used by developers. 

This sounds very interesting! Doesn’t it? Always have in mind that you don’t need to try this on your web page, especially when you don’t feel like a pro in this field. The HTTP links allow one to send link elements via HTTP headers instead of having them in HTML code. It is possible to bring style sheets into an HTML document using only an HTTP header. What does this imply to you? In this case, using the link header, you are able to make a page minus incorporating any HTML code. What makes this a disadvantage is that the header does not always obtain the support of all browsers. It is only supported by Opera and Firefox.

What is CSS in HTML?

Just as you had seen earlier, CSS is an abbreviation of Cascading Style Sheets. It mainly focuses on the style, which includes the colors and fonts. In other words, it can be defined as a style sheet language that developers use for describing the presentation of a document that is written in a Markup language like HTML. Remember so far, CSS is the main technology used in the whole worldwide web; it is majorly used alongside HTML and JavaScript.

CSS is mainly designed to enhance the easy separation of content and presentation. The content includes colors, fonts, and layout. This separation is a plus; some of what it adds is that it can enhance the ability to reach the content faster; secondly, it issues a greater flexibility range.

In this case, let’s focus on CSS as a style sheet language that can give a description of the document’s format that is in a Markup language. It can help you in bringing in more looks t your old HTML documents. In case you incorporate changes in CSS code, you get into a position of easily changing the website look. This is an additional feature that CSS provides to HTML.

CSS also condenses the workload by taking charge of the type of display that multiple web pages display. Despite that, Maintaining CSS is not such expensive as compared to other languages. It is also worth it that CSS has huge support from the community. To say the topic in a sentence, CSS is used with HTML to convert the web page styles and user interfaces as well. It is also compatible with other types of XML documents, such as plain XML< SVG and XUL.

In most websites, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript are used together to develop user interfaces. The user interfaces are always for web applications and other mobile apps. HTML and CSS are both used on the client-side. They are used mainly to develop web pages for clients.

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Is CSS a programming language

Does this worry you? Is CSS a programming language or not. When this question is asked, you may be tempted to say yes or perhaps no depending on your understanding of CSS and what a programming language is. From the recent research, over 50% declined, saying that CSS is a programming language, 42% agreed and said yes, while 8% were not sure, they didn’t go for yes or no. Where do you belong? Just read closely to know the right thing before making any decision.

Before we know whether CSS is a programming language or not, we should know what a programming language is. 

In an attempt to know what a programming language is, you may find many answers. This has led to many people coming up with their own definitions based on what they understand. To synthesize the most appropriate definition, let’s say it is a language of giving instructions to the computer. What is programming, then? This is the process of writing down instructions for a computer in order to solve a problem! A programming language, therefore, is the language used in writing those instructions. 

Is that so? Now, based on what CSS is and what you can say about a programming language, what can be your take. Is CSS a programming language or not? Are you joining the majority or the minority? Remember CSS is an abbreviation that stands for “Cascading Style Sheet.” In CSS, the major emphasis is on style; this is so because the key function of CSS is to specify the style in your document page layout, the colors, and the fonts. All these are determined by CSS. Does that qualify it to be a programming language? In general, CSS can be used to give instructions to the computer. The instructions can be in changing the styles or fonts and colors depending on your desire to the type of document layout you are in need of. 

What does CSS stand for?

What is CSS? What do you think it stands for? CSS is an abbreviation that stands for “Cascading Style Sheet.” It is that simple. But in that way, an assumption is made that you know what cascading stands for, its derivation, and anything of that fun stuff. 

To avoid doubts, the name cascading is derived from a priority scheme that identifies the type of style or rule that should be applied in case more than one rule is matched on a single element. It is worth noting that this particular cascading scheme can be predicted. 

In CSS, the major emphasis is on style; this is so because the key function of CSS is to specify the style in your document page layout, the colors, and the fonts. All these are determined by CSS. 

In general, CSS is a programming language used to describe the web page presentation. These presentations include fonts, colors, and layout. CSS allows a developer to get used to presentations with different devices. These include both small and large screen devices and printers as well.

If web development is your thing.  Click this affiliate link to register for Web Development Certification Training.

As a developer, always remember that CSS can operate independently; that is to say, its operation is not dependent on HTML. In addition to this, it can be used with any type of XML-based Markup language.

What is CSS used for?

CSS has a lot of functions, but before we get deep into this, it is good to remember some basics about CSS. What do you think these basics are? They include what it is and how it works with HTML since it is from there that you shall see some key functions of CSS. 

Remember, CSS is a cascading style sheet that is mainly focused on the document style. It is used to change the document fonts and colors. This is what is termed as bringing in a new look into the document, which may be an old HTML document or any other type of document.

CSS can as well be used to change the website look or its appearance. How can this be possible! This can be done by enhancing some changes in the CSS code. As you may know, CSS provides some additional codes to the HTML, whether old or modern. 

Another key function of CSS is that it brings down the workload by controlling several webpage layouts. In addition to that, CSS is very easy to maintain, it also has huge support from the community, and this implies that it is one of the most used programming languages.

That is just the beginning of what CSS is used for. At an advanced stage now, you need to know whether it can be used together with HTML and the function they will perform when used together. Generally, it is used with HTML to change the web page style and user interface as well. 

CSS can also be used with XML documents. Do you have any example of this or any clue regarding this? 

These XML documents include; plain XML, XUL and SVG. 

What of when it is used with JavaScript! It is used with JavaScript alongside HTML in most websites to come up with a user interface both for web applications and mobile applications. The abovementioned are the key functions of CSS both in relation to HTML and JavaScript as programming languages.

CSS syntax

CSS uses a simple syntax. It uses several keywords to specify what various style properties are called. What is worth understanding, in this case, are the rules in the style sheets. Remember, a style sheet has a list of rules. Each of these rules consists of selectors and a declaration block.

What is the function of a selector? In CSS, the function of a selector is to declare the part of the markup a style applies to. It does this by matching tags and attributes within the markup. Selectors may be of use to the following!

ü Specific type element

ü Attribute specified elements.

ü Elements. This is dependent on their specific locations in relation to the others within the document tree.

ID’s and elements are termed as being case sensitive; this means that they start with letters and proceed to bring in alphanumeric characters such as hyphens and underscores. The difference between class and ID’s is that a class can apply to any element’s number of the instance, while an ID will only apply to one element.

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Within the CSS rule, there is what is called a selector and a declaration block as well. The selector indicates the HTML you may be looking forward to style. There is also a semicolon that separates a declaration block which has one or two declarations in it. A single declaration contains a CSS property name and its value. The name and the value are separated by a colon and not a semicolon, as in the other case.

Remember, most of the CSS declarations are separated using semicolons. The declaration blocks are surrounded by curly braces!

CSS vs HTML  

CSS and HTML may have differences. However, it is good to remember that these two are dependent on each other. Despite what you may take the differences to be, you shall see below in detail how the two are similar and differ. 

According to the definition, HTML is a markup language that is used to determine web documents and web pages. HTML is expanded to Hypertext Markup Language. This is because it adds markup to web pages in relation to one another. A markup language is a collection of markup tags that gives more information about the page structure. All the HTML tags give a description of a single content.

On the other hand, CSS is an abbreviation that stands for “Cascading Style Sheet.” In CSS, the major emphasis is on style; this is so because the key function of CSS is to specify the style in your document page layout, the colors, and fonts. All these are determined by CSS. 

There is a tangible similarity between the two. Both HTML and CSS are used for creating websites or pages. A part from the above mentioned differences of HTML and CSS, there are several differences based on implementation methods, the syntactical structure, usability and attributes. 

HTML has a greater community support which is used to utilize different web structure approaches. This is a significant similarity since CSS also has a good community support. HTML is used to create the web page content while CSS is used to enhance page styles, formats and designs.

HTML has clear syntax that makes it easy to learn unlike CSS which often create code complications and do end up messy. The HTML files can contain CSS codes. On the other hand, an opposite of this is experienced; this implies that CSS cannot contain HTML codes.

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HTML doesn’t use selectors, it uses tags, and While CSS uses selectors. 

Luis Gillman
Luis Gillman

Hi, I Am Luis Gillman CA (SA), ACMA
I am a Chartered Accountant (SA) and CIMA (SA) and author of Due Diligence: A strategic and Financial Approach.

The book was published by Lexis Nexis on 2001. In 2010, I wrote the second edition. Much of this website is derived from these two books.

In addition I have published an article entitled the Link Between Due Diligence and Valautions.

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information published on this website is accurate, the author and owners of this website take no responsibility  for any loss or damage suffered as a result of relience upon the information contained therein.  Furthermore the bulk of the information is derived from information in 2018 and use therefore is at your on risk. In addition you should consult professional advice if required.