Media-Specific and Alternate Styles

One of the wonderful things about CSS is that it allows authors to create media-specific styles for a single document. A lot of web users and developers probably don't really think of the web as what it fundamentally is: a way of making information available. Most information that is marked up as (X)HTML is ultimately intended to be read on-screen. But often users will have a need to have web content available in other media. HTML was developed with an emphasis on "device independence". This very important term is unfortunately overlooked in many web development endeavors. In theory, it is possible to take a single (X)HTML document and make it available, source unaltered, on ten media types through the use of CSS. The first step, is to use structural HTML and to use it correctly. All the rest of the magic is done in the style sheets.

• Restricting Styles by Media
• Media Types, Groups, and Similarities
• Print Style Sheets
• Aural Style Sheet Support
• Alternate stylesheets
• Example with Alternate and Media Stylesheets
• Definitions and Notes
• Resources