external style sheets

I am trying to understand external style sheets. How does the

<link rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"
href="externalStyle.css">

connect to the first style sheet html document? How can it tell the other
html documents what to do?

Thanks,
Dave

David K <dave (AT) geovino (DOT) net> wrote:

connect to the first style sheet html document?

Could you explain this a little more?

How can it tell the
other html documents what to do?

One statement alone in a document doesn't tell any other documents what to
do. Each document must have some sort of declaration to tell it what style
sheet to use.
--
Michael Wilcox
mjwilco at yahoo dot com
Essential Tools for the Web Developer - http://mikewilcox.t35.com

Michael,

That makes sense to me, but when you name the external styles sheet with a
..css extension, how does it make the changes to the other html page. I'm
learning from a book called

PHP/MYSQL Programming for the absolute beginner.

Some of the explanation seems to miss something, or it's just me. I know
that the .css file and the html file have to be in the same folder, but just
can't understand how the Link rel connects the two documents.

Thanks
Dave



"Michael Wilcox" <mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

David K <dave (AT) geovino (DOT) net> wrote:
connect to the first style sheet html document?

Could you explain this a little more?

How can it tell the
other html documents what to do?

One statement alone in a document doesn't tell any other documents what to
do. Each document must have some sort of declaration to tell it what style
sheet to use.
--
Michael Wilcox
mjwilco at yahoo dot com
Essential Tools for the Web Developer - http://mikewilcox.t35.com

David K pounced upon this pigeonhole and pronounced:

[top-posting fixed]

"Michael Wilcox" <mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:uKfpb.2836$Oo4.1282 (AT) newsread1 (DOT) news.atl.earthlink.net...
David K <dave (AT) geovino (DOT) net> wrote:
connect to the first style sheet html document?

Could you explain this a little more?

How can it tell the
other html documents what to do?

One statement alone in a document doesn't tell any other documents what to
do. Each document must have some sort of declaration to tell it what style
sheet to use.

Michael,

That makes sense to me, but when you name the external styles sheet with a
.css extension, how does it make the changes to the other html page.

The browser reads the css file and applies the styles to the HTML.

I'm learning from a book called

PHP/MYSQL Programming for the absolute beginner.

Since it's not an HTML/CSS book, it probably already assumes the reader
knows those subjects.

Some of the explanation seems to miss something, or it's just me. I know
that the .css file and the html file have to be in the same folder, but just
can't understand how the Link rel connects the two documents.

The css file can be anywhere on your site. One common method of site
structure would be to group HTML documents by subject in appropriate
subdirectories. Stylesheets would also be in a subdirectory; /style is a
good choice.

Then all HTML documents link to it via relative links, such as:

<style type="text/css" media="screen, projection">@import
"../style/mainstyles.css"; </style>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../style/printstyles.css"
media="print" />

--
-bts
-This space intentionally left blank.

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 14:59:20 -0800, "David K" <dave (AT) geovino (DOT) net> wrote:

Michael,

That makes sense to me, but when you name the external styles sheet with a
.css extension, how does it make the changes to the other html page. I'm
learning from a book called

PHP/MYSQL Programming for the absolute beginner.

Some of the explanation seems to miss something, or it's just me. I know
that the .css file and the html file have to be in the same folder, but just
can't understand how the Link rel connects the two documents.

Thanks
Dave

Try doing a search for CSS tutorials. There are several of different

quality around but find one that suits you and you'll be away.

BB