How to Add CSS
The rules in a style sheet tell the browser reading it how to format the HTML page.
You can bring CSS into a page in three ways:
- External CSS — a link to a separate
.cssfile. - Internal CSS — a
<style>element placed in the head section. - Inline CSS — the
styleattribute of an HTML element.
External CSS
Editing a single external style sheet is enough to change the look of a whole website.
For that to work, every HTML page needs a <link> element in its <head> section that points to the file.
Any text editor will do for writing the file. It has to carry a .css extension and should be free of HTML tags.
Note: A value and its unit stay together with no space between them, so margin-left: 20px; is right and margin-left: 20 px; is not.
Example
A <link> element in the <head> connects the external style sheet to the page.
Prompt
An HTML page that links to an external style sheet.
In the
<head>, use a <link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyle.css"> element to pull in external CSS. Add a heading and a paragraph in the body.
Output: complete HTML page
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyle.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
mystyle.css
Inside the linked mystyle.css file you will find CSS only, with no HTML.
styles.css
body {
background-color: lightblue;
}
h1 {
color: navy;
margin-left: 20px;
}