HTML vs CSS: Difference between HTML and CSS
In the Web Development realm, two foundational technologies reign supreme. Yes, we are talking about HTML vs CSS.
But it is not HTML vs CSS. Because it is always HTML & CSS. These are two of the best technologies that work together to bring the best results.
They complement each other, but they do different kinds of work to power some of the best websites on the Internet.
For e.g. HTML works on creating a structure and content of the website, while HTML focuses on styling that structure and content to make the overall website look visually appealing and organized for the end users.
Let’s talk about this in more depth. What is it? They differ and complement each other to bring out the best for the end users.
What is HTML?
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard language for creating and designing web pages. It uses a range of tags and components to specify the layout and organization of a web page. HTML, along with CSS and JavaScript, is one of the World Wide Web’s essential technologies.
HTML is a markup language used to define the fundamental structure of a website. The website’s basic structure comprises the header, body (primary content), and footer sections. What is a markup language, by the way? A markup language is any language that the browser can understand and that instructs the browser on how to render the data.
HTML provides a variety of tags designed for certain uses. Because each tag has predefined display information, these tags give the browser display information. Browsers can parse more than 100 different HTML tags to display a webpage.
What is CSS?
Another front-end development tool for styling HTML and other markup languages that determine a website’s appearance and feel is the cascading style sheet (CSS) language.
If we think of HTML as the body’s skeleton, CSS is the skin or general appearance that covers it. Individual style attributes in a CSS file include font sizes, colors, layout, and others. These are applied to various HTML elements according to CSS declarations and selectors.
CSS allows you to change the background color/image, align tags using margins and position attributes, give different font properties, and even remove existing HTML tag properties.
CSS also has excellent transitions that allow you to modify property values seamlessly over a set period. Additionally, CSS makes it easier for HTML components to transition between styles over time by enabling animation.
HTML vs CSS: How it Works & Differs?
1. Purpose
While HTML and CSS have distinct purposes in web development, they work together to create visually appealing and functional web pages.
HTML specifies the layout and content of a webpage while determining the elements shown on the page. It includes headings, paragraphs, images, links, and buttons. HTML can structure the content, but can’t change the look and feel.
Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, are used to specify the look and feel of HTML-generated items. It regulates elements such as responsiveness, layouts, fonts, colors, and spacing. With CSS, developers can create visually appealing web pages that work on a variety of screens and devices.
Simply put, CSS helps with how to display content, whereas HTML focuses on what to display.
2. Syntax
The syntax of HTML vs CSS varies significantly in web development. Let’s understand better.
HTML Syntax: HTML uses tags to define the structure of a webpage, having more than 100 different tags for different elements. These tags are enclosed in angle brackets and pairs: e.g., an opening tag and a closing tag.
CSS syntax, on the other hand, uses selectors to target HTML elements and declaration blocks to define styles. A declaration block includes properties and values, but it is enclosed in curly braces instead of angle brackets. A colon separates each property-value pair, and semicolons separate individual declarations.
So, HTML syntax defines content with tags and attributes, while CSS syntax focuses on styling that content with selectors and declaration blocks.
3. Relationship
HTML establishes the relationships between different elements, giving them structured and semantic meaning. It organizes the content in a logical and accessible way to ensure the interpretability of browsers and search engines.
CSS works on top of the HTML framework to add to the style and visual appeal of the webpage. This language relies on the relationships established by HTML to apply styles, such as colors, fonts, layouts, and spacing to ensure it is appealing and responsive.
In short, HTML builds the foundation by defining the relationships between elements, while CSS builds on that foundation to create the look and feel of the webpage.
4. Layout
The webpage layout is handled differently in HTML and CSS.
HTML layout defines the webpage structure and organization which includes the positioning of headers, body content, navigation menus, and footers through different elements. It focuses on the content and its organization rather than its appearance.
CSS Layout on the other hand helps with the visual positioning and spacing of HTML elements. It assists with layout designing through properties like flexbox, grid, position, float, and margin. CSS even helps in the management of alignment, space distribution, and page responsiveness to adapt to different screen sizes.
In the end, HTML provides the building blocks, and CSS arranges them in a way to makes the webpage look attractive and functional.
5. Inclusion
HTML is always included directly in the primary document because it focuses on the core of the webpage(the structure and the content). It uses tags to specify elements and the users can save them with a .html extension.
On the other hand, CSS can be included in three ways: inline, internal, or external.
- Inline CSS is applied directly to individual HTML elements using the style attribute.
- Internal CSS is placed within a style tag in the head section of the HTML document.
- External CSS, being the most common one is stored in a separate .css file and linked to the HTML file using a link tag.
6. Dynamic behavior
As you are aware, HTML is a static language, which works with defining the structure and content of a webpage but does not cover the dynamic capabilities. And, users need to depend on third-party technologies like JavaScript or server-side scripting languages such as PHP to enable dynamic behavior in HTML.
For example, JavaScript can manipulate HTML elements to update content, respond to user actions, or even create interactive features.
CSS is dynamic to some extent because of CSS animations and media queries without the javascript. CSS animations help with transitions, keyframes, and effects without requiring JavaScript. Media queries enable responsive design, dynamic layout, and style of a webpage based on screen size or device type. However, CSS’s dynamic capabilities are limited as compared to JavaScript.
7. File Types
HTML and CSS use different file types, because of their distinct purpose for web development. HTML files, saved with a .html or .htm extension. Just so you know – the HTML files are standalone documents that browsers interpret to display the basic layout and elements of the webpage.
On the other hand, CSS files are saved with a .css extension. In general, CSS files are external and linked to HTML files, for a clear separation of content and presentation.
8. Browser Interpretation
Browsers interpret HTML and CSS in quite different ways when it comes to rendering web pages.
When a browser reads an HTML file, it creates a Document Object Model (DOM), that represents the structure and page content. By default, HTML elements have some styling that is defined by the browser.
When it comes to CSS browser interpretation, it happens separately to level up the visual presentation of the HTML structure. The browser applies CSS rules to the DOM, overriding the default styles with customized designs.
9. Style inheritance
HTML itself does not support style inheritance. It has no mechanism for propagating styles or visual characteristics from one element to another.
CSS, however, introduces the concept of inheritance, as it allows certain styles to cascade from parent elements to their children. Properties such as font family, text color, and line height are inherently inherited by child elements unless explicitly overridden.
For example, if one parent’s element has a specific font color, all the child elements inside will also inherit the same color unless you change the font color. This CSS inheritance helps developers reduce the need for repetitive code while still ensuring consistency in design.
10. Reusability
Now, let’s talk about reusability and how it differs in HTML and CSS.
HTML focuses on content structure, so by default, almost all elements are curated specifically for each webpage with limited built-in mechanisms for reuse. For example, developers can create an HTML element like a table or form on each page where needed. However, with the use of templates or frameworks, they can achieve some level of reusability.
CSS, on the other hand, is designed for reusability. Developers can define the styles in an external CSS file for multiple web pages by linking the file to each HTML document. Through this resutability, it ensures consistent style across websites. Additionally, CSS classes and variables enhance reusability with modular, reusable style definitions that can be applied to different elements as needed.
11. Responsiveness
In today’s times – responsive is quite important and at the core of every website. Let’s understand how responsiveness differs with HTML vs CSS.
Let’s start with HTML. It provides the structure but has limited capabilities on its own. Responsiveness in HTML often depends on defining flexible layouts using tags and attributes. However, to achieve full responsiveness – CSS integration is important.
CSS works great when it comes to responsiveness. It uses features like media queries to adapt styles based on screen size, resolution, or device type. For instance, a media query can adjust font sizes, margins, or layouts for mobile devices versus desktop screens.
CSS also supports responsive units like percentages to scale dynamically. And the best thing – when combined with modern CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS, developers can create seamless, responsive designs that users gonna love, regardless of the device or browser.
12. Usability and maintenance
Usability and maintenance are other factors that we will be discussing in this list.
When it comes to HTML usability, it is somehow limited to static content and layout. In terms of maintenance, HTML might become a bit difficult to manage because of the structural changes that need to be applied across multiple pages and each file has to be updated individually.
CSS boosts usability as it enables developers to style and format the HTML content. While we are talking about CSS maintenance, it does a pretty good job at that. It simplifies the maintenance by separating style from structure through external stylesheets.
Developers can make updates from anywhere and anytime to the website’s design whether it’s changing colors, fonts, or even layouts—by editing just a single CSS file. This separation reduces redundancy, ensures consistency, and makes managing the visual aspects of a website much more efficient compared to HTML.
To Wrap it Up!
To ensure the best-in-class results for web development; there is no HTML vs CSS. These two technologies work together to provide the best-in-class web development. HTML lays the groundwork, organizing the whole structure of the website and organizing the content as needed. While CSS steps to manage all the styling parts of the part to complete it and ensure the website looks visually appealing and organized. If you wish to choose Custom WordPress development for your business and wish to know more you can contact us here.
