CSS Forum

**Firefly Aviator** · 01-06-2008, 08:09 PM

Hello group!
I am VERY new to CSS and HTML and trying to dissiminate all the information out there is proving to be quite daunting. I have some REALLY basic questions and hoping you all can provide some insight.
My first question is, when i create a style sheet that has all my divs in it, does that one sheet stay with all my pages? I mean, my other pages might not look like my main page. Say for instance a contact page is going to have a different format than my main page. Do i just create a different style sheet for that page??
Also, is it ok to ask Dreamweaver questions on this website or is it strictly coding? Im using Dreamweaver to build my site, and in the process, learning CSS. Its been MUCH easier for me to design something, then see the code, but I still feel like i have TONS to learn.
My site so far (only 2 pages done) is www.fireflyaviationx.com
THANKS so much for any help!!

**colbyt** · 01-06-2008, 08:19 PM

There are several others here in the group far better than me to answer this.

You link to your stylesheet in the <head> of your page. If you want to use a different one just link to a different one on a few pages.

Going to wait and see if this was just a link drop before I spend a lot more time writing.

**Firefly Aviator** · 08:31 PM

OH.. so you wont think its a link drop.. its about powered parachutes. Im a flight instructor for these and trying to develop a site for it. There is NOTHING on there to sell!!! Its strictly for information on flying powered parachutes. I'm just desperate for feed back and wanting to learn how to do this because its fun and I need to have a web presence.

I know how to link the style sheet... But i was just under the impression that you just had one style sheet per site. I cant figure out how you would do that if your other pages dont have the same format.

THANKS!!

**jdfreelance** · 01-06-2008, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colbyt

Going to wait and see if this was just a link drop before I spend a lot more time writing.

If you looked at all at his website, there is not resemblance of him selling anything. Do not jump to conclusions

**Majic** · 01-07-2008, 07:54 AM

You can have one style sheet for all of your pages. You just have to have different id tags for every different element. Though, if some of it remains the same, then you can reuse those ids.

e.g.
Your menu links do in fact look exactly the same. That is something that you could reuse on both pages so that the user does not need to load it again when visiting the other pages.

If you are having different style sheets for different pages, I really don't see the point. It's basically just the same as having the style in the header, except the user has to do more work to look at your styles.

**LadynRed** · 01-07-2008, 11:48 AM

Quote:

My first question is, when i create a style sheet that has all my divs in it, does that one sheet stay with all my pages?

Generally, yes, but you can have multiple stylesheets.
Using different ID's for each element -- well, you use ID's and CLASSES to style your page elements. The way I generally handle this kind of thing is to use ONE stylesheet, but different ID's for the body of the different pages. It's best to keep your style consistent on every page, but there are a couple of cases where my home page is slightly different from the rest of the site. In that case, I will have a separate ID on the body for the home page with rules defined specifically for that page. The rest of the pages being the same would just use the 'general' rules in the CSS, no ID on the body required.

Quote:

is it ok to ask Dreamweaver questions on this website or is it strictly coding?

We can help with DW too.

Quote:

Im using Dreamweaver to build my site, and in the process, learning CSS. Its been MUCH easier for me to design something, then see the code, but I still feel like i have TONS to learn.

You do. I would caution against using DW in WYSIWYG mode, it has a tendency to create some VERY nasty code. It is always better to learn to code by hand, HTML and CSS, FIRST, then use DW as the tool it is meant to be.

If you're going to use the XHTML STRICT doctype, then you need to learn the RULES for that doctype:
- all tags must be in lowercase
- ALL tags MUST be closed, including <img> <link> <meta> and <br> - how you do that is like this: <img xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx /> <br /> <link xxxxxxxxxx />
- deprecated elements like <center> and <font> are NOT allowed
Here's the rest: http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/...ing_rules.html

And here's another reason NOT to use DW in WYSIWYG mode - tables should NOT be used for layout. Use HTML and CSS for layout - you'll be glad you did.

**Firefly Aviator** · 01-07-2008, 06:34 PM

As far as tables go, from everything I have read, tables are out. I was just trying to get my images up and tables were the fastest, easiest way. Im trying to learn how to use divs for placing images for a gallery.

OK so let me rephrase what I think I have grasped from you all... If my site has 6 pages, and I have my style sheet named main.css, this sheet COULD apply to all pages. But if i have a contact page or an image gallery, I may need a new style sheet because the divs will be different. Am I starting to go in the right direction?

**serandfae** · 01-07-2008, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firefly Aviator

OK so let me rephrase what I think I have grasped from you all... If my site has 6 pages, and I have my style sheet named main.css, this sheet COULD apply to all pages. But if i have a contact page or an image gallery, I may need a new style sheet because the divs will be different. Am I starting to go in the right direction?

If you create a stylesheet called main.css, you link to it in each of your pages in the head section. Whatever style is applied to the divs is determined by how you identify them--by class, ID, or HTML tag. After the link to an external style sheet, you can put rules in (also in the head section) for individual pages, or inline within individual HTML tags. The browser applies the rules in the order it reads them, for the most part.

So if you have a div that is for one thing, you give it one class, a div for something else gets another, but all those rules can go in the external stylesheet. Something identified as one thing isn't styled as something else. From the external stylesheet, something identified as this class on one page will be styled the same as that identified as the same class on another page.

**Firefly Aviator** · 01-07-2008, 09:24 PM

OHHHH I THINK the light bulb just came on in my head! Im going to play around with some more pages and see what I can come up with.
As far as doing an image gallery, is it just making a div for each image??

**Firefly Aviator** · 01-07-2008, 09:27 PM

Do you all know of any good websites with good image galleries? Looking for something for some inspiration. Like the clean and simple look and no flash.
Here is mine, but its done with tables http://fireflyaviationx.com/images/images.html

THANKS so much for helping a newbie!!!!!

**LadynRed** · 01-08-2008, 12:30 AM

You might want to look thru thus Stickie:
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/websit...galleries.html

**Firefly Aviator** · 01-08-2008, 03:35 PM

That link was PERFECT! THANK YOU SOOOO much!!!!!!

**LadynRed** · 01-08-2008, 09:13 PM

Any time