RE: inline styles vs. linked css

Scarlett Julian (ED) wrote:

> Are there any issues raised by the use of inline 
> styling rather than using a linked style sheet?

Linked style sheets are recommended, apparently for reasons of maintenance
and consistence:
"Use linked style sheets rather than embedded styles, and avoid inline style
sheets." 
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CSS-TECHS/#consistency

It's difficult to say what practical _accessibility_ implications this might
have. Generally, what's simple and logical and consistent tends to be better
in the long run in all respects, other things being equal. But more
specifically, isolating all CSS from HTML and gathering all CSS rules to a
single file (or a small set of files) makes it much easier to consider
whether the stylistic suggestions are suitable for a particular user or
environment and to construct another style sheet (modified or completely
new) as needed. For example, if you use different fonts in a document for
different ingredients there, it's easier to consider how a _corresponding_
styling could be done using colors, or voice, or other methods, when you
just need to analyze a relatively short CSS file.

Besides, a linked style sheet can be made optional (or "alternate"), so that
the user can switch it off without switching off all CSS. In particular,
with linked style sheets you could write one CSS file that you would very
much like to be applied and another CSS file that is of secondary importance
or otherwise more optional.

-- 
Jukka Korpela
TIEKE Tietoyhteiskunnan kehittämiskeskus ry
Finnish Information Society Development Centre 
Salomonkatu 17 A, 10th floor, FIN - 00100 HELSINKI, FINLAND
Phone: +358 9 4763 0397 Fax: +358 9 4763 0399 
http://www.tieke.fi  jukka.korpela@tieke.fi

Received on Monday, 13 May 2002 07:22:46 UTC