Terminology - What is CSS?

Cascading Style Sheets, also known as CSS, are a tool that web designers use to control the look of their web site while maintaining flexibility to change their mind on a whim without creating hours of work in the process.

Basically style sheets are check lists for each element on your site. For example, you can use CSS to make all of your H1 tags 12 pixels, green, and bold. However, if you decide that you just don't like the way that works with your hot pink background, you can quickly change all the H1 tags to dark blue by changing that one element in the style sheet and it automatically applies itself throughout.

One of the coolest examples of CSS at work that I have found is CSS Zen Garden. Select CSS layouts from the menu and watch the page change before your eyes - the text all stays the same, though!

If you are looking to really learn CSS, I highly recommend Cascading Style Sheets, The Definitive Guide, by Eric Meyer.

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