Website designing is one complicated task which takes series of tools and features to perform successfully, however with the advancement of technology and tools which are offered in the designing of a website, the task has become efficient and effective as compared to earlier times.

One of the most important features which a website designer needs to consider is the use of Cascading Style Sheet (CSS).

CSS or Cascading Style Sheet is the language which is used for the presentation of web pages on a website which includes the use of colors, web page layout and fonts. It enables the presentation in compatibility of the website on different gadgets of small and large screens or even when it comes to the process of printing. CSS is not based on HTML but it can be used with any XML based marked up language. This independency from the HTML helps CSS to make the task of maintaining websites, sharing of style sheets across pages and edit pages to different themes and environment. This is generally considered as separation of structure or content from the presentation. With the time CSS has become the most preferred web designing method which benefits the designers in various ways.

Let’s assume if you want to make a change in your web design, you’d need to edit every page of your website which will take a lot of time and effort. CSS enables you to edit the Entire website design by making changes on one page of the website. It makes the search engine process easier as it doesn’t struggle with “reading” of the content you upload because it is considered as a clean coding method, and it also leave you more content then code which is essential for your website. As the search engines has been upgraded, which means that there are more browser options than ever. CSS style sheets help in the adaptability of the website and make sure that more visitors are able to view your website just like the way you wanted. There are many more other advantages of having CSS for web designing, but some of the tricks and techniques which can be very beneficial for you are mostly ignored, that’s why this article highlights the points which are neglected while using the CSS method in web designing in order to help you design your website better and effectively.

1. Automatic Numbering

We all know how exhausting it is to number each and every heading and subheading on the website with many web pages; you’d be doing it manually or via script. But CSS eliminates the efforts of numbering each and every heading and subheading by the use of CSS counters. CSS counters contains of two elements which are “counter reset” and “counter increment”. The counter reset is generally used to reset the count and counter increment is used to add the numbers. There is also an option of conditional number, if you want a number to start from a particular point, you can specify the reset number that way.

2. Creativity with Underlining

Spicing up fonts is never a bad idea as it attracts the reader, but there are very limited options given to be creative with underlined fonts. Sometimes we want underline in different manner, adding a little creativity to it like a dotted or dashed line instead of having plain simple line under the fonts. We go for the “border bottom” as there are no options, but “border bottom” are not effective if the text which you are underlining wraps. CSS3 crosses the barrier as it offers three new properties for text decoration. “Text decoration color”, “text decoration line” and “text decoration style” offer you to be creative with the texts on the website. You can use these properties to style your underline, overline and even make texts blinks on the webpage.

3. Quotations on Website

HTML has made us free from typing correct curly quotes as the “” tag indicates the inline quotations. But let’s assume that you want your quote to have more than double quotes or have more level of nested quote in a line, you face a barrier in that situation. But through CSS2 quotes property that barriers is no more a problem for you as you can define your quote preference with it., making the quotation just the way you want it to be.

4. Table Management

We all have face a situation where we come across a big table which is varied on the content size per cell and it’s impossible to make it within a width you want it to be or have specified, no matter how hard you try, we all eventually fail. CSS offers you with a unique property of taming the table with “table layout”. The property uses the fixed value instructions, when you command a fixed layout for the table, the table and cells are designed according to the given values. It gets defined by the user but not by the content, and this property is supported by all browsers.

5. Make It Visible

There is always some information or content on the webpage which you want your viewer to pay attention at, but with several other options which are offered on the website, that information or content gets scrolled up or down. Your want of getting that text read by the users remains incomplete. CSS offer a feature which can be used by the designer to make that content or information visible even if the page is scrolled downwards or upwards. You can use this feature with CSS using position “sticky”, in which you can fix a particular area on the web page for the information or content, and the content will remain visible till the particular area of the webpage is scrolled up or down. They act like positioned elements before any scrolling and then like fix elements once scrolling cross its threshold.

6. Shaping The Text

Sometimes when you add a picture in the center or on the side of the webpage, you want your content to surround the picture nicely curving with the boundaries of the picture, but due to the limited options given your text always go in the basic way, by the rectangular shape of the picture. “CSS shapes” gives you an option of changing the basic way and implying the way you want it to be. There are three properties given for adjusting your content which are “shape outside”, “shape margin” and “shape image threshold”. Through this option you can adjust your content with the surrounding of the image as you want it to be.

7. Marking The Fields

Many times when you require some information from the user on the website, you make fields and space for them to write within the fields or space. At times some information which your require is essential and at times that information is optional, lets suppose that you want to convey the message to your users that the information is essential or optional without the use of texts, it seems impossible. But you can use CSS to classy those fields as optional or essential with the color of their boundaries like fields with red boundary being the essential and fields with blue boundaries being optional.

8. Picky with Colors

When you don’t like certain colors, you wish to not have them on your website in any manner, but at certain point your wish gets limited as there are no option to adjust like while highlighting the text on the website, there aren’t much options to change the color of highlighted texted. But with CSS element of selection you can change even the color of highlighted text on your website, and make the highlighting with the color of your want.

9. Checking The Check Box

Sometimes It get difficult to check whether you have checked a check box or not just by the indication of tiny tick on the box where there are several options given on the webpage. It can be very helpful for users to have another indication besides having a tiny check on the webpage, which will create the website more user friendly as well. CSS covers this aspect as well with its property of “check class” option. It does not only indicate by the right tick but you can also make the optional content beside the tick box highlighted with a color which is selected by the user, so that there are no errors of leaving an option because of non visibility.

10. Make Your Website Based on a Theme

It is very attractive when a website is based on a theme like a story book, having its fonts and features just like when you open up a story which starts with “once upon a time” having its O bigger than other letters. You can make your website look prettier by CSS using the “first letter” property, which targets the first letter of the line and make it bigger in size with capital font just like the story books we used to read.

11. Providing File Formats for Links

You may have seen a document linked with a picture or website for downloading or for shifting the user to another website, it may take many tools in order to get that step correct. But CSS has made this step easier as well. You can link your web with the property of “content:url()” of CSS and add the link of the document you want.

12. Add Parallax Effect

When we talk about the creativity in web designing, we are not only limited to the creativity using fonts and labels but we can also include the background for the creative design of a website. A website which has an attractive background can have a major role in increasing the website traffic alone. But if we do not only add an attractive background but also edit the background to make it look even more fascinating will give the design of the website a major boost. CSS offers parallax effect which is an effect used to make the movement of the background in a slow motion. Whenever a user scrolls down the web page, the background image will move along but in a slow motion creating an impression of good web design.

CSS or Cascading Style Sheet has influenced the method of web designing greatly making it more efficient and more impactful. It has offered us with so many features which people tend to ignore sometimes, but if you keep those features and properties in mind and use them well, your website design will outstand among the other website, being user friendly and attractive at the same time.