Cascading Style Sheets 2.0 Layouts

Although cascading style sheets (CSS) have been around for years, lately, with the introduction of cascading style sheets 2.0 and its compatibility with all major browsers, the use of table based layouts for the development of web sites is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Cascading style sheets have become one of the most powerful tools that web designers use to manage the entire mood and tone of their websites. CSS are intended to allow developers to separate content from design and for describing the presentation of web pages, including colors, layout, and fonts, thus making it easier to create and maintain websites, share style sheets across pages, and tailor pages to different environments.

Pegasus InfoCorp stresses on well written style sheets that allow websites to modify what is prioritized or valued without making any changes to the underlying XHTML. Using CSS techniques, our clients have the ability to change the look of their sites in minutes, which has proved beneficial to our clients in many ways, which is of course, ultimately, our primary endeavor. Some of the reasons we have been using cascading style sheets for the design and development of our websites include:

• Higher Search Engine Rankings
A web site with a CSS based layout will appear higher in the search engine rankings because the code is cleaner, content can be placed appropriately and the density of content can be managed effectively. A higher search engine ranking means more site visitors, which can therefore lead to an increase in enquiries or sales.
• Faster Download Speed
Most of the presentation code in a CSS based website is separated in a CSS file, which is called up once and then cached on the user's computer. With a table based layout, the code is generally stored in each HTML document, which must be loaded up each time a new page downloads. Browsers read through table based layouts twice before displaying their contents, once for working out the structure and the other to determine the content. Also, with CSS the order of items that are downloaded on to the users screen can be controlled, making the content appear before slow-loading images. A faster download speed therefore leads to increased usability, and increased web usability can increase the conversion rate and sales through the website.
• Reduction in Bandwidth Costs
Web sites using cascading style sheets for their layout tend to have much smaller file sizes than those using tabular layouts. Smaller file sizes mean reduced bandwidth costs, which for high traffic sites can mean huge savings.
• Consistency across the Website
With the use of CSS based layouts‚ each page of the website has a standard color schema resulting in a consistent look for all the pages of the website.
• Increase in Reach
A CSS-based website can be made compatible with PDAs, mobile phones, in-car browsers, Web TV’s etc. Web developers can create additional CSS documents specifically for handheld devices, which will be called up in place of the regular CSS document. This is not possible with tabular layouts. Therefore with CSS based layouts a larger number of people can be reached, which could increase the sales through the website.

The use of style sheets represents an enormous leap forward, adapting to the changing trends in technology and coding practices while saving time and money. As part of our CSS services we work on:

• Developing CSS 2.0 web solutions that provide clients with full control over the configuration and administration of their business systems and ensures a truly user-friendly system that is simple to maintain and update.
• Converting existing websites to include CSS designs/layouts that help build brand awareness, stimulate sales, revenue and reduce IT costs.
• Converting designs to cross-browser compatible, SEO optimized, W3C compliant fully functional XHTML/ CSS layouts etc.