Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g., fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents.
These pages contain information on how to learn and use CSS and on available software. They also contain news from the CSS working group.
For more news, see our syndicator “The Future of Style.”
Some of the specifications and drafts by the CSS Working Group:
Completed work | Status | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝ |
---|---|---|---|---|
CSS Snapshot 2010 | NOTE | ℹ⃝ | ||
CSS Snapshot 2007 | NOTE | ℹ⃝ | ||
CSS Color Level 3 | REC | REC | See Errata | ℹ⃝ |
CSS Namespaces | REC | REC | ℹ⃝ | |
Selectors Level 3 | REC | REC | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Level 2 Revision 1 | REC | REC | See Errata | ℹ⃝ |
CSS Level 1 | REC | Unmaintained, see Snapshot | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Print Profile | NOTE | ℹ⃝ | ||
Media Queries | REC | REC | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Style Attributes | REC | REC | ℹ⃝ | |
Stable drafts | Status | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝ |
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 3 | CR | PR | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Conditional Rules Level 3 | CR | CR | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Multi-column Layout | CR | CR | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Values and Units Level 3 | CR | PR | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Cascading and Inheritance Level 3 | CR | PR | ℹ⃝ | |
CSS Snapshot 2015 | NOTE | Latest stable CSS | ℹ⃝ |
The working group regularly publishes reports on its blog; here are the most recent:
A part of the CSS WG in May 2016.
The <www-style@w3.org> mailing list is the place for discussing the further development of CSS. (The CSS working group also uses that list for most discussions.) Everybody can subscribe (or unsubscribe, or see instructions.)
If you work for a W3C member organization, you can also join the working group.
Nearly all browsers nowadays support CSS and many other applications do, too. To write CSS, you don't need more than a text editor, but there are many tools available that make it even easier.
Of course, all software has bugs, even after several updates. And some programs are further ahead implementing the latest CSS modules than others. Various sites describe bugs and work-arounds.
For beginners, Starting with HTML + CSS teaches how to create a style sheet. For a quick introduction to CSS, try chapter 2 of Lie & Bos or Dave Raggett's intro to CSS. Or see examples of styling XML and CSS tips & tricks.
Another page also has some books, mailing lists and similar fora, and links to other directories.
The history of CSS is described in chapter 20 of the book Cascading Style Sheets, designing for the Web, by Håkon Wium Lie and Bert Bos (2nd ed., 1999, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-59625-3)