subject: Css In The World Of Website Design [print this page] Style sheet languages are computer languages which have now been heavily used in the Internet. It was introduced in the industry of website design when people sought many ways on how to avoid the use of tables in designing a website. This is because the use of tables as well as spacers caused a number of problems to a website, such as its accessibility and bandwidth issues. One of the most successful style sheet language introduced for website design is CSS.
The first introduction of CSS into the market
Cascading Style Sheet or simply known as CSS is one of the most popular and successful style sheet language introduced in the market. According to many web design experts, as well as those from Web design Philippines companies, CSS were first introduced as CHSS or Cascading HTML Style Sheets.
Because of the demand for new ways on designing a website without the need of tables, many individuals have presented their own style sheet languages which could provide a successful means of controlling every element found in a website without having to use the HTML table tag. According to experts, there were 9 style sheet languages which was proposed to the W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium. Of the nine proposals, two were chosen as the foundation for what became CSS: Cascading HTML Style Sheets (CHSS) and Stream-based Style Sheet Proposal (SSP).
Eventually, both style sheet languages were combined to make one, powerful, style sheet language, which is CSS. However, before CSS were introduced into the market, there were other style sheet languages which have been used in the market. These are the DSSSL and FOSI.
DSSSL or Document Style Semantics and Specification Language is one of the three current standardized style sheet languages used in the market. It was a computer language used in SGML which was eventually used in XML. In parallel with the move from SGML to XML, the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is gradually replacing DSSSL. However, many of the concepts used in XSL originated with DSSSL.
FOSI, or Formatting Output Specification Instance, is similar to DSSSL in which the language was also used in SGML which was also used in XML. Although not as widely known as DSSSL, it was popularly known in the market as where XSL got its bearing in website design.
The reason why CSS grew more popular compared to DSSSL and FOSI is because CSS allowed a document's style to be influenced by multiple style sheets. According to many Web design Philippines experts, one style sheet of CSS could inherit or "cascade" from another, permitting a mixture of stylistic preferences controlled equally by the site designer and user.
Today, CSS is known as one of the most widely known style sheet language used in the industry of website design. The language has also been given the name as the "tableless design. However, CSS is not the only style sheet language used in the market today. According to several experts, there are 3 standardized style sheet languages used in the market. The other two have already been mentioned, CSS and DSSSL, while the other one is XSL or the Extensible Stylesheet Language.
CSS' greatest competitor
The reason why the XSL is considered as the greatest competitor of CSS is because the language holds several features that CSS lacks. Many have even cited that XSL is somewhat more powerful than CSS. So what is XSL and what are its advantages over CSS?
XSL or Extensible Stylesheet Language is a computer language which possess several capabilities of DSSSL and FOSI. And according to many experts, XSL is steadily replacing DSSSL. However, XSL has evolved drastically from its initial design into something very different from its original purpose. Today, XSL is widely known as only a term used to define family of style sheet languages. XSL is currently split into three parts:
XSLT or XSL Transformations
XSL-FO or XSL Formatting Objects
And the XPath or XML Path Language
In the process of XSL, the XML would usually be transformed first into an intermediate form. The result of this transformation is known as XSL-FO. However, in the process of designing the transformation step, it was realized that a generic XML transformation language would be useful for more than merely creating a presentation of an XML document. As such, a new working group was split off from the XSL working group, and the XSL Transformations (XSLT) language became something that was considered separate from the styling information of the XSL-FO document.
According to many experts, such as those from Web design Philippines companies, the combination of XSLT and XSL-FO creates a powerful styling language compared to CSS. One advantage is that the XSLT is a Turing complete language, while CSS is not; this demonstrates a degree of power and flexibility not found in CSS. And unlike CSS, XSL-FO document stands alone. CSS modifies a document that attached to it, while the XSL-FO document (the result of the transformation by XSLT of the original document) contains all of the content to be presented in a purely presentational format.
However, The use of XSL requires skills and dedication. This is because combining XSLT and XSL-FO is much more complex than CSS. The complexity of XSL-FO is a problem, largely because implementing an FO processor is very difficult. CSS implementations in web browsers are still not entirely compatible with one another, and it is much simpler than writing an FO processor.Visit http://www.myoptimind.com for more info.
