"Cascading" in this context means that because more than one stylesheet declaration could apply to a particular piece of HTML, there has to be a known way of determining which specific stylesheet rule applies to which piece of HTML.
The rule used is chosen by cascading down from the more general declarations to the specific rule required. The most specific declaration is chosen.
Read the official W3C specification on cascading here: https://www.w3.org/TR/css-cascade-4/
"Cascading" in this context means that because more than one stylesheet declaration could apply to a particular piece of HTML, there has to be a known way of determining which specific stylesheet rule applies to which piece of HTML.
The rule used is chosen by cascading down from the more general declarations to the specific rule required. The most specific declaration is chosen.
Read the official W3C specification on cascading here: https://www.w3.org/TR/css-cascade-4/
When I teach CSS, I always tell the students that "cascading style sheets" means something like "fighting style sheets".
One rule tells your H3 tag to be red, another rule tells it to be green -- the rules are contradicting each other, who will win!? Stylesheet deathmatch!
OK maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's far more amenable to non-code, non-programming people who are just starting out than any notion of a cascade, or inheritance.
I do of course make sure to tell them that it's not a problem for the style sheets to be fighting each other, that's the way the language was designed.
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I'm just beginning to learn CSS and wanted to know what cascading meant. From what I can understand I think it's referring to how CSS decides which rule to apply to a certain element if they overlap. Like if I declare that I want h1 to be red, then say it should be green, it will pick red first, and then ultimately choose green. But I could be entirely wrong on this, can someone correct me if I am and put it into better words?
"Cascading" in this context means that because more than one stylesheet declaration could apply to a particular piece of HTML, there has to be a known way of determining which specific stylesheet rule applies to which piece of HTML.
The rule used is chosen by cascading down from the more general declarations to the specific rule required. The most specific declaration is chosen.
Read the official W3C specification on cascading here: https://www.w3.org/TR/css-cascade-4/
When I teach CSS, I always tell the students that "cascading style sheets" means something like "fighting style sheets".
One rule tells your H3 tag to be red, another rule tells it to be green -- the rules are contradicting each other, who will win!? Stylesheet deathmatch!
OK maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's far more amenable to non-code, non-programming people who are just starting out than any notion of a cascade, or inheritance.
I do of course make sure to tell them that it's not a problem for the style sheets to be fighting each other, that's the way the language was designed.