How Do Style Sheets Work?

Style sheets are just text files, or text embedded in the head of an HTML document, that help separate content from appearance. The content of a page goes into an HTML file and the appearance goes into a style sheet. But how does all this end up as a web page in your browser? Think of a style sheet as a set of instructions, suggesting to a web browser how to draw a page. The style sheet suggests how the browser should display the page based on rules you define in the style sheet.

Let's Take A Look

Take a look at this page without the stylesheet applied.
CSS Basics - How Do Style Sheets Work

To get an idea of what CSS can really do click on the link below. The examples on this site all use the same html document. The only difference between the examples is the style sheet used. Click on the examples listed on the right hand side of the page.

CSS Zen Garden - http://www.csszengarden.com/