CSS Selectors: What's the point?

[Kolyana]

So I'm playing around with attribute selectors this afternoon, marvelling at how they make my life a whole lot easier:

Code: Select all

#side_navigation input[type="text"] {
display: block; margin: auto; }

How spiffy.

Until it comes to the "world's most popular browser", of course, and they are not recognized and obviously don't work.

So now I have to come up with an alternative way of applying styles to given form element types, and if I have to do that for ie, the revised method will work in all browsers ... so why bother with css selectors at all?

If I use them and have to do everything twice, or don't use them - use an alternative method - and only do it once, why would I ever have use for them?

~Nat

[Andy K]

Hi

I am not sure I fully understand your problem but see if I can help a little.

From what I know CSS selection brings wider accessibility to web pages, giving the user more options to suit their viewing needs. From a designers point of view it can be used to show off different styles whilest retaining the same content.

If you are having problems making a css selector work in internet explorer (or Internet Exploder as I prefer to call it). I recommend you view the reply posted to me from herkalees to my question: Alternative CSS Selection (IE) listed in this forum

hope this helps

[Kolyana]

Great pointer ... thankyou. It was mainly the 'frustration' with IE that caused me to post ... why have something available in CSS and why use it, if the world's leading browser doesn't accomodate them!? Or something like that.

Incidentally, in my travels I have also come across Dean Edward's IE7 script: a javasciprt library he called "IE7" that makes existing IE versions behave in a more standard manner. It's certainly worth looking at, although with 10-20% of user turning Javascript off, it sometimes seems like the world of webpage design is constantly fraught with trouble

[titaniumbean]

Originally Posted by Kolyana

So I'm playing around with attribute selectors this afternoon, marvelling at how they make my life a whole lot easier:

Code: Select all

#side_navigation input[type="text"] {
display: block; margin: auto; }

How spiffy.

Until it comes to the "world's most popular browser", of course, and they are not recognized and obviously don't work.

So now I have to come up with an alternative way of applying styles to given form element types, and if I have to do that for ie, the revised method will work in all browsers ... so why bother with css selectors at all?

If I use them and have to do everything twice, or don't use them - use an alternative method - and only do it once, why would I ever have use for them?

~Nat

I suggest, use css selectors and conform to proper web standards. Then set your site to explode out of the computer screen if viewed in IE. Then it will really live up to the name given to it earlier in this thread.



Not sure if this will help, but you never know.


titaniumbean.