"Cascading Style Sheets"?

[Max]

Why are they so called? I can understand the style bit. But they're
not cascading in any shape or form. And as for sheets, that's a bit
optimistic, since you can have an external file / sheet of CSS
instructions, but it doesn't really merit that description.

 

[David E. Ross]

Why are they so called? I can understand the style bit. But they're
not cascading in any shape or form. And as for sheets, that's a bit
optimistic, since you can have an external file / sheet of CSS
instructions, but it doesn't really merit that description.

I don't know where the term "sheet" came from. For "cascading", see my
<http://www.rossde.com/Webdevelopers.html#css>.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., Pres. Bush) snooping
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See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>

 

[Steve Pugh]

Why are they so called? I can understand the style bit. But they're
not cascading in any shape or form. And as for sheets, that's a bit
optimistic, since you can have an external file / sheet of CSS
instructions, but it doesn't really merit that description.

Maybe you should take another look at the spec where it defines what
cascading means - http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/cascade.html#cascade

And the term 'style sheet' predates CSS by many years, so I don't see
what else they could call it.

Can you tell us why you don't think CSS cascades and why you don't
think it's composed of style sheets?

Steve

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Yes they are...

I don't know where the term "sheet" came from. For "cascading", see my
<http://www.rossde.com/Webdevelopers.html#css>.

Perhaps you meant this link?
<http://www.rossde.com/internet/Webdevelopers.html#css>

 

[Harlan Messinger]

Why are they so called? I can understand the style bit. But they're
not cascading in any shape or form. And as for sheets, that's a bit
optimistic, since you can have an external file / sheet of CSS
instructions, but it doesn't really merit that description.

A CSS stylesheet is as much a stylesheet as a web "page" is a page. Both
terms come from their analogs in the printing world.

 

[David E. Ross]

Yes they are...


Perhaps you meant this link?
<http://www.rossde.com/internet/Webdevelopers.html#css>

Oops! Yes, you are correct.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., Pres. Bush) snooping
into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>

 

[Info_Junkie]

Why are they so called? I can understand the style bit. But they're
not cascading in any shape or form. And as for sheets, that's a bit
optimistic, since you can have an external file / sheet of CSS
instructions, but it doesn't really merit that description.

The "Cascading" part refers to "inheritance". Inline styling takes
precedence over the style sheet on the page, the page style sheet takes
precedence over an external style page.

Info_Junkie

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

The "Cascading" part refers to "inheritance".

No it doesn't.

Inline styling takes
precedence over the style sheet on the page, the page style sheet
takes precedence over an external style page.

Under some circumstances, perhaps. And this has nothing to do with
inheritance.

To learn to understand CSS concepts, try reading a book or an online
tutorial or specification - and if problems remain, ask in a group devoted
to stylesheets, not HTML.

 

[dorayme]

No it doesn't.


Under some circumstances, perhaps. And this has nothing to do with
inheritance.

To learn to understand CSS concepts, try reading a book or an online
tutorial or specification - and if problems remain, ask in a group devoted
to stylesheets, not HTML.

Damn... what are you doing up Korpela? This is the Southern
Hemisphere help desk shift. [God help everyone... when I am on it
alone... ]

Cascading has more to do with the idea of different style sheets
relating to a document, there being rules that determine which
css instruction applies when there is a 'conflict' between
sheets. The settlement of such 'conflict' is arbitrated
especially according to the order in which the sheets are
specified (as in the head) but there are other criteria too...

This is a different idea to inheritance. Inheritance is a concept
that operates even within parts of perhaps the single only sheet.
To determine what things a child will inherit, one must find the
parent. Finding the true parent involves fossicking about through
the sheets and attending to the cascading rules. This is where
some confusion can arise about the two ideas.

I can recommend the following book, it is nicely written and I
don't know why, but the authors with quite unlikely names, seem
to know what they are talking about:

Cascading Style Sheets by Hakon Wium Lie & Bert Bos.

 

[Andy Dingley]

I can recommend the following book, it is nicely written and I
don't know why, but the authors with quite unlikely names, seem
to know what they are talking about:

Cascading Style Sheets by Hakon Wium Lie & Bert Bos.

Read the CSS spec too, particularly the contributors' names.

 

[dorayme]

Read the CSS spec too, particularly the contributors' names.

I know what you mean. The information you refer to is actually in
the book itself. I got this book out from my local library
because it was obvious it was well written. It started to
interest me that they wrote in such a clear manner and yet
obviously had this rather impressive grasp. I was also impressed
by the low key factual manner of their tract, no strident
advocacy. That alerted me to a hidden power, a confidence. I am
not kidding you. The two things are not always connected in
teachers! And I recall looking the book up and down for more info
on them, there was stuff somewhere, on the blurb or inside
cover...

 

[Andy Dingley]

I got this book out from my local library
because it was obvious it was well written.

Still my favourite CSS book.

I'm planning to read Hakon Lie's PhD thesis this weekend (link posted
recently).