CSS: Magic of web design

Have you ever wonder how some webpages look so nice while others just look like plain text? If you said it was because it was done professionally using expensive web design software, well you're partially correct. Any novice web designer (like me) can make webpages that are presentable without the need of any special software. All we need to learn in conjunction with HTML is another markup language called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Currently, CSS is the most used method for styling websites and for good reasons. CSS is fairly easy to learn, works great with most browsers (minus earlier versions of Internet Explorer, but who really uses IE by choice?), and contains numerous styling functionalities. And the best part it, It doesn't cost you a penny. Here is a before and after picture of a website with and without CSS.
Without CSS:

With CSS:


There are numerous tips and tutorials online where you can learn CSS without the need of a textbook. A great beginner's tutorial for CSS can by found on w3schools.com. And if you never made a webpage before, you might want to check out their HTML tutorial before hand.

The next project that I'll be on will be involving CSS. Kelli and I will be working on George's Pinax website for UH Dorm Energy. For this project we will be creating different layouts and themes for the website to eventually find the best design for it. But like every design, we will of course keep functionality and usability in mind. As I learn more about CSS, I hope to be able to create websites that will look as stunning as the examples on CSS Zen Garden.

We're both fairly new to CSS so we'll be going through some of the online tutorials and probably look at other website designs that we think we could incorporate into the UH Dorm Energy website.

For more tips and tricks on CSS, take a look at Philip Johnson's CSS bookmarks.