Assess different implementation styles of CSS

There are a few different styles of CSS such as Inline, Embedded and External, I am going to explain each style and give some advantages and disadvantages for styles I am writing about.

 

Inline -

Inline CSS has many purposes such as testing. Web designers use inline CSS because it is easier to work with, for example instead of changing the source file the user can just scroll up on the source instead. Web designers only use this when they are able to or when they have spare time to do so. Websites such as blogs with limited pages included with the website, using inline CSS can help the service providers. The main advantage for inline CSS is lower HTTP requests, this means that the website will load faster and links on the website will load quicker, therefore the website will have good user interaction and the users will not have to wait a lot of the page to load which will please the users using the website.

 

However inline CSS has its limitations such as the web designer having to apply everything onto every element involved. For example if the web designer wants all their paragraphs to be a certain colour they will need to add an inline style to each <p> that they have created which will create more work for the web designer to do and more reading time for the user however that is what is needed to be done by the web designer if that is what he or she wants for their website.

 

Embedded -

Embedded CSS does have more advantages than inline CSS. Web designers can style the visited, active, hover and link colour of the anchor tag with the embedded style sheets, whereas it is impossible to do so with inline CSS. Embedded CSS does not require the web designer or anyone else to apply the style to every element of the page. Embedded also does not have many HTTP requests and does not need downloads to require style information.

 

There are not many disadvantages for embedded CSS however there are a few. One disadvantage is that embedded styles cannot be used for multiple documents, if the user wanted to use the style on different web pages. There are also less HTTP requests which means when using embedded style the page will load slower than usual as compared to inline. Also when using embedded style the page size will increase which is only useful for the web designer when working offline.

 

External -

There are a lot of advantages for external therefore I am only going to write about a couple of them. One advantage of external is when using external CSS they have full control of the page structure and it will keep your website and content seperate. External CSS doesnt require you to type in the same CSS code into every web page that exists, you can simply have pages which refer to a single CSS file with the link tag. When using external CSS the user can display their website according to HTML standards without making any cooperation with the look of the page that the web designer has done.

 

Some limitations of external CSS are that it can increase the download time if it is large, causing the page to be slow on the website which can waste time and can be annoying. When using a small amount of styles it can also increase the difficulty of the page which will make it harder for the web designer to maintain the page. Also when a page is removed it does not show when a style is deleted because external sheets can become big very quickly.

 

Reference -

http://ictjaicss.weebly.com/m1---styles-of-css.html - I have used this website to help me with some information that I have used for this task - used 20/12/13