Mastering CSS 3

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Getting Started




After you have a design, start with a blank page content


Use a master stylesheet


--- master.css@import url("reset.css");
@import url("global.css");

@import url("flash.css");
@import url("structure.css");

<style type="text/css" media="Screen"> 
/**/ @import url("css/master.css");/**/ 
</style>


Keep a library of helpful CSS classes



.width100 { width: 100%; }
.width75 { width: 75%; }
.width50 { width: 50%; }
.floatLeft { float: left; }
.floatRight { float: right; }
.alignLeft { text-align: left; }
.alignRight { text-align: right; }

Organise your CSS-styles, making a table of contents



Organise your CSS-styles, ordering properties alphabetically


Separate code into blocks


 /*  Structure  */
  This is where locates the primary site structure divs and classes
 /*  Typography  */
      This is where list things like paragraphs, headings, and other font styles 
  /*  Links  */
              All the styling for anchor tags
   /*  Lists, images, etc.  */
              The rest - like images, lists, and any other elements that didn't fit into the rest of the section.

Workflow: Handling IDs, Classes, Selectors, Properties



  • Keep containers to a minimum
  • Keep properties to a minimum
  • Keep selectors to a minimum

Name your classes and IDs properly, according to their semantics


Try to avoid names that imply presentational aspects


Example of bad name: right-col 

Group selectors with common CSS declarations


     So instead of this

     Do this, by grouping multiple selectors with common declarations:

Isolate single properties that you are likely to reuse a lot



Find an example is here 

Move IDs and class naming as far up the document tree as you can


  • Leverage contextual selectors as much as possible
  • Longer selectors can make CSS documents easier to read while also cutting down the chances of developing class- or divits.

Use Your Utility Tags: <small>, <em> and <strong>


Instead of applying custom classes on divs use semantic tags. 

Use shorthand notation



Shorten hexadecimal color notation

#000 is the same as #000000

#369 is the same as #336699

Define pseudo classes for links in LoVe/HAte-order


LoVe/HAte-order stands for Link,Visited, Hover, Active




Define elements margin, padding or border in TRoBLed-order


When using shorthand to specify element's margin, padding or border, do it clockwise from the top: Top, Right, Bottom, Left




Setting up Typography


You can change capitalisation using CSS [Open example]

You can display text in small-caps automatically [Open example]

Set 100.01% for the html-element


    • Setting default body font size in percent (instead of em) eliminates IE/Win problem with growing or shrinking fonts out of proportion if they are later set in ems in other elements
    • Some version of Opera draw a default font-size of 100% too small compared to other browsers
    • Safari, on other hand, has a problem with a font-size of 101%


You can hide CSS from older browsers





A common way of hiding CSS files from old browsers is to use
 the @import trick


!important: How and When to Use It


  An !important declaration provides a way for a stylesheet author to give a CSS value more weight than it naturally has


When should you use it? Never

When you use !important you're disrupting the natural flow of your rules, giving more weight to rules that are undeserving of such weight

Learn CSS Layout

The "display" property
The default for most elements is usually block or inline.
Block
A block-level element starts on a new line and stretches out to the left and right as far as it can
Common block-level elements: div, header, footer, section, etc. 
Inline
An inline element can wrap some text inside a paragraph <span> like this </span> without disrupting the flow of that paragraph. 
Inline-block
An element like inline but it can have a width and height

Position

Static (default)
Is not positioned in any specific way
Relative
Behaves the same way as static unless you add some extra properties [Example]
Fixed
A fixed element is positioned relative to the viewport, which means it always stays in the same place even if the page is scrolled  [Example]
Absolute
Behaves like fixed except relative to the nearest positioned ancestor instead of relative to the viewport. If an absolutely-positioned element has no positioned ancestors, it uses the document body, and still moves along with page scrolling.  [Example]

Position the block in the middle of the screen



Page layout


Look at example [here]

Exercise 


Based on the previous example you need to create the next page layout:

float

Intended for wrapping text around images   

clear

Important for controlling the behaviour of floats. [Example]
  



If we want section appear after floated element


You need to apply clear: left to the section [Full example]




Exercise


Create the next float layout

Media Queries

Responsive Design is the strategy of making a site that responds to the browser and device that it is being shown on

Column

There is a new set of CSS properties that let you easily make multi-column text [Example]



Exercise



  • Show 4 columns if the page width is more than 800px 
  • Show 3 columns if the page width is between 600 and 800px
  • Show only text with an image if page width is less then 600px

Animation



CSS animations are made up of two basic building blocks:

Keyframes - defines the stages and styles of the animation.

Animation properties - assign the @keyframes to a specific CSS elements and define how it is animated


Browser support




Building Block #1: Keyframes


They define what the animation looks like at each stage of the animation timeline

Composed of:

  • Name of the animation
  • Stages of the animation
  • CSS properties

Simple @keyframes example


Building block #2: Animation Properties



Once @keyframes are defined, the animation properties must be added in order for your animation to function.

They do 2 things:
    1. They assign  @keyframes  to the elements that you want to animate
    2. They define how it is animated.

Animation to Take Effect

You should add following animation properties:
  • animation-name: The name of the animation, defined in the @keyframes
  • animation-duration: The duration of the animation, in seconds (e.g. 5s) or milliseconds (e.g. 200ms)
Working example [Open]

Additional Animation Properties #1

  • animation-timing-function   [Example]
    • defines the speed curve or pace
      • ease, linear, ease-in, ease-out, ease-in-out,initial, inherit
  • animation-delay
    • specify when the animation will start
  • animation-iteration-count
    • specify the number of times that the animation will play
      • default is 1; infinite, inherit, initial
  • animation-direction [Example]
    • whether the animation should play forward, reverse, or in alternate cycles.
        • normal, reverse, alternate,  alternate-reverse

Additional Animation Properties #2


  • animation-fill-mode [Full description]
    • specify if the animation styles are visible before or after the animation plays. 
      • backwards, forwards, both, normal
  • animation-play-state
    • specify whether the animation is playing or paused. 
      • playing, paused

Exercise


Create this animation, as a start use [this] 

Mastering CSS

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Mastering CSS

CSS best practices, creation of page layouts and animation

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