What Is SVG? The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format is a method for creating vector graphics on the Web (see w3.org/ Graphics/SVG/). Like Flash, instead of plotting each point in a graphic, SVG data describes two points and then plots the path between them as a straight line or curve. Although it still lags behind Flash in browser penetration, SVG is natively supported in Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. The holdout is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which will not have SVG support until version 9.

Choose an organization scheme You should choose a consistent organization pattern and stick to it. I’m not going to tell you how to organize your style sheets—that depends on what works for you—but here are a few ideas to consider: Organize by selector type. Start with HTML selectors, then IDs, and then classes. Organize based on page structure. Group rules based on their parent tags. This works even better with HTML5 because page structure is stronger. The downside occurs when the same rules need to be applied at different places in the page.

Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is a language used to specify the visual appearance of a Web page—in contrast to HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is a markup language that defines the structure of a document for distribution on the Web. HTML tells a Web browser how the content is organized on the page, whereas CSS tells the browser how it should look. CSS3, an abbreviation for CSS Level 3, is the next generation of this style language that adds several new capabilities.

1. Add content to your HTML file. Using the HTML file you created in chapter 2, add text and image content. I tend to use Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but anything will do. A great source for text is Project Guttenberg (www.gutenberg. org). 2. Markup your content. All styles require markup in the Web page to give them something to be applied to. Make sure to tag headers and paragraphs. 3. Add classes and IDs to your markup. Classes give you a “hook” to apply specific styles to specific elements. Don’t go overboard, though.