CSS questions

[Bob Duncan]

At 05:13 PM 2/5/98, DeAnne Luck wrote:
>I've been experimenting with Cascading Style Sheets for some new pages
>and because I just want to keep up!  I've been using the WDG CSS Guide,
>but I still have a few questions.
> [snippage]
>How do I get the First Letter psuedo-element (as referenced in
>http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/structure.html#pseudo) to
>work with my other <P> elements?  I copied the line straight from 
>the example and stuck in it every position I could think of - it either
>did nothing or wiped out all my other <P> formatting.  I'm using IE4.0
>for testing if that makes a difference.

Much of what's in the CSS1 spec does not yet work with the majority of
browsers, and some style sheet rules can actually have adverse effects on
browsers: I just tried accessing DeAnne's test page and my browser forgot
what a mouse is supposed to do (three separate times following restorative
reboots). My guess is the "@import" method of containment, which seems to
work only with IE4 on Win95, may have caused the problem.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in playing with style sheets
check out Web Review's "Style Sheets Reference Guide"
<http://style.webreview.com/>, particularly their browser compatibility
charts <http://style.webreview.com/mastergrid.html> and the safe and danger
lists. The charts list compatibility for each style sheet property for 3
"supporting" browsers on 2 platforms (Mac and Win95). Like DeAnne, I once
spent way too much time trying to make the First Letter psuedo-element
work; the chart explains why our efforts were a waste of time (the chart
shows "no" in 4 columns; "buggy" in 2). Most of the style sheet guides and
books I've seen so far neglect to mention in *specific* terms the present
state of browser support. Web Review's guide won't tell you everything
(like the weird situations where some properties don't work in combination
with others), but it's a fantastic starting place.

Bob Duncan


  ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
  Robert E. Duncan
  Reference/Instruction Librarian
  David Bishop Skillman Library
  Lafayette College
  Easton, PA  18042
  duncanr at lafayette.edu
  http://www.lafayette.edu/faculty/duncanr/