The Convenient Way to Compare Style Sheets

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of content in a markup language. It is usually used in conjunction with HTML or hypertext markup language to present webpages, but it may also be used with the XML document format. CSS offers the advantage of handling presentation separately from the actual content. When coding in CSS, it usually becomes necessary to compare style sheet A with another style sheet B, and there are tools for this purpose.

A cascading style sheet consists of various rules that govern how the different parts of a markup document are presented. It is termed “cascading” due to how priorities of several different rules that apply to a particular element are determined. The rule that applies to the smallest or most specific subclass or type of element is the one given the highest priority. In the absence of more specific rules, however, the rule for a general class could “cascade” down into all subclasses.

As a style sheet becomes more and more complicated, it also becomes more and more difficult to keep track of changes. This might become necessary when updating the CSS of an existing website, for example. To save a programmer some tedious labor, various programming utilities could be used.

There are general utilities for comparing blocks of text or code, which would then highlight the differences for easier spotting. These utilities would then make it trivial to keep track of slight changes that accrue over time. Apart from keeping track of changes to a single style sheet over time, these comparison or difference utilities could be used to compare similar style sheets. For instance, different pages on a website may use similar style sheets with only slight differences. If, for any reason, it becomes necessary to track these differences, these utilities can do so in a snap.

Then there are more specific utilities that can actually recognize CSS codes. These CSS helpers could display syntax in color, and even to some extent, add an interface for editing the style sheet. That is, instead of manually editing the actual code, these helpers could allow programmers to make use of friendlier dropdown boxes, checklists, and other forms. For larger style sheets, these helpers can be a godsend, as they save a lot of labor. Of course, these CSS helpers would also allow the easier comparison of different style sheets.

Depending on the programmer’s needs, a general utility or a CSS helper could be good choices. When having to compare style sheets with others, much labor can be saved with the use of the right tool. This leaves the programmer free to focus on the design and coding aspect of the job, and not be bogged down in the tedious details. In particular, CSS or cascading style sheets offer a lot of possibilities to be taken advantage of, both in terms of visual design and organization. Using comparison and helper programs can only make the job easier and more interesting.