In the figure above, item 5 is a(n) 


embedded style sheet. 
class definition. 
ID definition. 
inline style specification.

Item 5 is an ID definition. In the
lecture, we were told that the pound
sign precedes an ID name.

In the figure above, item 4 is a(n) 


embedded style sheet. 
class definition. 
ID definition. 
inline style specification.

Item 4 is a class definition. In the
lecture, we were told that the period
precedes a class name.

What are some advantages of using id
over class?  Please reference your
response.  For example, if you found
the information at an online source,
indicate the URL; if you used the text,
list the page; or if you just knew,
state that.

According to the lecture, the only
advantage of ID over class is that an
ID can be used with any element.
Another advantage is the uniqueness of
ID which ensures that it is used only
once on a document; page 35 of the text
gives a "most important" example. (This
would be useful perhaps for our style
sheet at work, where we use a class for
standout red text. Would using an ID be
better?)

What are some advantages of using
class over id.  Please reference your
response.
As noted by the lecture, class is more
flexible because it can be used
multiple times on a document. Another
advantage observed by the text (pp. 32,
34) is that the same class name can be
used with different selectors (P, Span).

Please provide some examples of pseudo-
classes and pseudo-elements.  When
might you use these CSS features?  And
when should they be avoided?  Please
reference your response. 

The lecture gave the example of the
link psuedo-classes (a: link;
a:visited; a:hover; a:active) and the
psuedo-elements first-line and first-
letter. I wish I could use those psuedo-
elements at About.com for a greater
visual impact, but we have to conform
to their style.

According to the text (pp. 35-36), we
use psuedo-classes for "unpredictable"
situations where we don't know when
something will happen, e.g., a link on
the page, but when it does, we want it
to "behave" in a certain way. 

Interesting point made by the text -
you need to use a:link to avoid having
the a element rule apply to a targeted
anchor. I did not know this, and the
lecture said that a:link and a by
itself were the same. Should we get in
the habit of using a:link instead of a
when writing style sheets, just in case
a document uses a named anchor? 

As for when not to use psuedo classes,
on page 38 there is an example: do not
use them to control font size. Using
psuedo classes in this case forces the
browser to redraw the page. To see what
the visual effect would be, I created a
document called DontDo.htm and clicked
on the link; it became much larger when
clicked on, not only forcing the
browser to redraw the page immediately,
but also creating an unpleasant visual
experience.