Build W3C Standards Websites with CSS XHTML Templates

The combination of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) are used for building websites. CSS XHTML templates can help you create websites which conform to web standards. They make the task of website developers easier.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the organisation responsible for defining standards for websites and other Internet resources. CSS XHTML templates help you to follow the W3C specifications which recommend using both CSS and XHTML for website source code.

The W3C has issued specifications for separating the presentation style of a website from its content. This is the role played by CSS. XHTML is used as a source code to build websites and makes use of CSS to define how various elements of a website should look like.

Let us take a look at CSS and XHTML to understand how they work together to build websites. We will then describe CSS XHTML templates which can be used as a blueprint to create standards-compliant websites. Internet resources such as buytemplates.net offering such templates for download are also described.

CSS and XHTML An Introduction

We take as a matter of course the numerous well-designed and attractive websites available on the Internet for news, shopping and email.

Behind the visual design and content, a website is constructed using a computer language called HyperText Markup Language or HTML. The code written in HTML is stored in a .html file. Our browser software such as Internet Explorer or Firefox is able to interpret HTML and display the images, text and video as a website.

There have been progressive specifications for HTML set by the W3C. The XHTML specification builds upon HTML 4 and XML (Extensible Markup Language).

A website or webpage has two aspects the content display and the style with which the content is presented.

Cascading Style Sheets or CSS files take care of how various elements in a webpage such as the title, body text and links appear in terms of font colour, size and placement.

CSS XHTML templates provide readymade website source code and style sheets to handle both aspects of content and style.

Benefits of CSS XHTML Templates

Suppose you need to launch a website in a short time or lack experienced web developers who can write standards-compliant CSS and XHTML code quickly.

In such a case, CSS XHTML templates can be very useful. Each template has two components a CSS template file for presentation and XHTML template file for the website source code.

Lets see how CSS and XHTML templates can help you develop your website.

• Readymade Website Source Code A CSS XHTML template gives you a basic framework for a website. A template consists of a CSS style sheet and an XHTML source code all ready for use.
• W3C Standards Compliance A professional CSS and XHTML template would comply with the specifications set by the W3C for both CSS and XHTML. With a template from a reputed provider, you do not need to worry about using outdated HTML tags.
• Reduced Time of Deployment As the templates have already taken care of the website source code, all you have to do is customise the content with your own title, description and images. This makes it possible for you to launch your website quickly.

CSS Templates for Presentation Style

Information on how content such as title or body text should be presented in terms of style is expressed via a style sheet.

Previously, style information was often included within the HTML file and was specified for each content element such as headings, links and images. This was known as inline style.

The W3C has set guidelines in which it has become standard to include all presentation information in an external CSS file. This meant that presentation style could be separated from the content. CSS templates provide professional external style sheets and thus follow W3C guidelines.

Why was this separation of style and content recommended? This was done because frequently website developers found that inline styles were too cumbersome when it came to changing the look of an entire website with many webpages.

If you wanted to change the colour palette in a site having inline style attributes for each element, you would have to change the attributes in each and every page and element.

CSS templates provide ready-made style sheets that can be used to control the presentation style of all the elements in the entire website.

While a simple CSS template can be used to control standard style aspects such as font type and background colour, complex navigation design such as drop down menus can also implemented using such templates.

Building Websites with XHTML Templates

XHTML is a central component of CSS XHTML templates. XHTML templates contain the source code for developing websites.

Lets look at some features of XHTML templates.

• Prepared XHTML Code for Websites As the name implies, an XHTML template already contain the basic XHTML tags needed for building a website. You can download and customise the template to make your own changes or to add content.
• Reference to CSS File In CSS XHTML templates, the CSS file is referred to by the XHTML template via the link tag. This enables the XHTML code to use the specified CSS file for the presentation styles of various elements in a website.
• Content The XHTML file can contain text and can include references to image file locations. The necessary customisation must be done to the XHTML template to insert your own data.

Selecting Website CSS Templates and XHTML Template

It is important to select professional CSS XHTML templates so that your websites source code is W3C standards compliant. You can validate the XHTML source code and style sheets created by website CSS templates by using W3C validators.

For style sheets, you should select a template that is reflective of your website purpose. For example, for business websites, the CSS template should apply a look and feel that is appropriate for your business category.

It is best to use professional templates from reputed providers.

Buytemplates.net is a leading Internet resource for W3C standards-compliant CSS and XHTML templates.

You can download CSS templates and XHTML code templates from Buytemplates.net to set up high-quality websites in no time at all. The templates have been developed by professionals and cater to many subject categories. The templates can be customised after download

Buytemplates.net also offers custom CSS template creation services where you can request for a design with your specifications

The sheer variety of templates is a distinguishing feature of this site and can ensure that you find the best CSS XHTML templates for your websites.