Creating "Standard" Styles
Someone posted this question on one of the mailing lists I subscribe to:
Can one create "standard" styles so that the programmers and the visual designers can simultaneously refer to them during the development process?
I thought the question was intriguing, since I tend to use the same style names (although, not actual definitions) on my web sites. So, after pondering, I have come up with the opinion which follows.
Yes, It Can Be Done
"Standard" styles can be done, based on structuring one's document. One can set up the style sheet to have a style for every HTML tag, if desired. And, one can create "standard" classes that are frequently used.
Here are some "standard" classes:
- .centered
- use for centering an element.
- .indented
- use for standard indenting of a block of text. Remember, the
<blockquote>tag should only be used for marking up a block of quoted text! - .italic
- replaces the
<i>tag, which has become deprecated in HTML 4.0 Strict.
But, There Are Caveats!
Remember that styles are applied to HTML tags, whether by redefining the tag itself, or by using IDs or classes. It is essential that you get your document's structure clearly defined, so both the programmers and visual designers know what they are working with! Communication between both groups is essential, and the creation of the styles should be done as a result of communication. If, for example, the visual designers are doing a two-column layout, and the programmers are using a three-column layout, something is going to be missing here.