HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
5
CHAPTER
CSS Syntax and
Property Reference
This chapter provides a complete reference for the properties in the CSS1 and CSS 2.1
specification. Aspects of the CSS2 specification that were not implemented widely,
like the aural properties, are only briefly summarized given their lack of use. The
bulk of the material on CSS3 and emerging and proprietary CSS features can be found in
Chapter 6. However, where appropriate, CSS3 changes that are modifications of traditional
CSS are presented together with the older syntax.
CSS Versions
Cascading Style Sheets is a fairly old technology as far as the Web is concerned. The first
ideas about CSS were presented as early as 1994, and three major versions of the technology
have been developed since then. Table 5-1 summarizes the version history of CSS.
CSS Basics
CSS rules are defined as a property name followed by a colon and then a property value.
Individual rules are terminated by semicolons, with the final rule having an optional
semicolon. The following is the basic syntax:
property-name1 : value1; ... property-nameN : valueN;
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