External style
An external style is a stylesheet stored as a separate resource and linked to one or more documents.
Web Design Playground
A style sheet stored in a separate CSS file and linked to an HTML document instead of being written inline or in a style element.
- How it is used
- Shares CSS rules across multiple web pages to keep their appearance consistent and reduce repeated maintenance.
- How deep it goes
- Explains file creation, CSS-rule syntax, link placement, four href locations, and cascade precedence; it does not detail stylesheet loading internals.
- Examples
- Demonstrates links to styles.css, css/styles.css, /css/styles.css, and a remote Google Fonts URL.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via the link element to attach a shared CSS file using local, root-relative, or remote URLs.
Web Design Playground, Second Edition
An external style sheet is a separate CSS resource containing style rules that can be linked to one or more HTML documents.
- How it is used
- Applies shared CSS rules across pages while separating document structure from presentation.
- How deep it goes
- Explains file creation, link placement, four path choices, maintenance benefits, and cascade weight, but not advanced selector mechanics.
- Examples
- Uses styles.css, css/styles.css, /css/styles.css, and a remote Google Fonts stylesheet as link-path examples.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch by creating a .css file and linking it from an HTML head.
Read how Web Design Playground, Second Edition explains external style →
Related concepts
- link elementuses · The HTML link element declares a relationship between a document and an external resource or resource metadata.
- style attributealternative to · The style attribute is an HTML or SVG attribute whose value contains CSS declarations applied directly to that element.
- CSSkind of · CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a stylesheet language for specifying the presentation and layout of structured documents and user interfaces.
- internal stylealternative to · An internal style sheet is a collection of CSS rules embedded within an HTML document, typically in a style element.
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