HTMLhelp's links for CSS Options

[Peter Evans]

http://htmlhelp.com/reference/css/references.html is HTMLhelp's list of "CSS References". I glanced at them not in order to comment on them but instead to find some more material on which aspects of CSS are done right, done wrong, or ignored by which browser. But instead I experienced a trip into the past. Let's go through them, one by one:

Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1

OK.

Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2

The description reads: CSS2 provides numerous additions to CSS1, few of which are supported by browsers. Oh? I thought most of them were supported by most browsers in current, wide use on computers.

Cascading Style Sheets

OK.

CSS Frequently Asked Questions

OK, as far as it goes. I quote: Last updated on 2 November 1999. Might htmlhelp.com redescribe this as Questions Frequently Asked about CSS in the Last Century?

CSS Pointers

I quote: This is a legacy document, and retained on the site in order to avoid link rot. The content is likely no longer (a) accurate, (b) representative of the views and philosophies of current site management, or © up to date.

(Uh, no, not quite. It doesn't say anything about copyright; it instead says "or parenthesis-c-parenthesis up to date".)

CSS Bugs/Workarounds

Same as for "CSS Pointers".

The House of Style

Ah, something useful!

Hide CSS from Browsers

Last revised almost five years ago. More disturbingly, this set of pages seems to suggest that any old hack is convenient if it renders CSS invisible to certain browsers but visible to others. There's little attention here to standards and little to future, as yet unimagined browsers. More strangely, there seems to be no mention of Microsoft's own "conditional comments" hack. Jens Meiert explains Why “Conditional Comments” are bad, repeat: bad, but I find him unconvincing; he should be praised for bringing up the matter and allowing other writers on that very page (notably Jon Christopher) to explain how (in a world lumbered with MSIE) "conditional comments" are, on the contrary, good (repeat good).

Style Sheets Known Issues

Dead link. And anyway about NS4, a dead (I hope!) browser. (We cater for the dwindling number of eccentric users of NS4 by use of @import; end of story.)

CSS support in Amaya

Dead link.