Adding CSS to an existing site

Question

Our Chorus has had a website up for many years, developed
first in FrontPage, then in MS Expressions Web. We expect to
continue evolving it and adding content.
http://www.sandiegofestivalchorus.org
I finally bought DreamWeaver CS4 and it works very well to
update the site the way I have always been doing it. Now I am
thinking about using Style Sheets to make future updating easier.
Right now the only style I find reference to is "h1" and I've not
yet investigated where it applies.
I've been going through some of the tutorials and what I
think I have learned is that I can embed styles in the code for the
site or create a new style sheet and put all the style info there.
Is that correct?
My main question is: How much effort should I put into using
CSS approaches? If it is worth it, should I create a new style
sheet?
Once I have created some styles, will I have to go through
the whole website identifying the style for each styled element?
Or should I save CSS for my next new website?
Thanks,
John Fistere

Answer 1

I sure wouldn't approach it that way. Make sure you
understand the three
types of selectors well before you embark on this: id, class,
and type.
Then you will most likely want to REBUILD each page
completely (since most
of the HTML infrastructure will be different anyhow).
I will frequently do this by working on the existing page,
and creating the
new layout structure at the top of the page, so I can
conveniently drag and
drop layout elements from bottom to top as I fill out the new
layout.
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"JFistere" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:gf1u2e$s8p$[email protected]..
> Thank you for such a speedy response.
>
> As I understand it, the process will be to pick an
element, such as a
> certain
> level heading that is the way we want it start a new
style sheet and name
> that
> style. Then we go through the complete site selecting
the same type of
> elements, and associating the CSS style wilth them. Then
we pick another
> element and add its style to the same style sheet and go
through the
> process
> for that type of element.
>
> There will be two of us working on the website, and I
understand that we
> can
> use checkout control to avoid overwriting each other's
work. How does
> that
> work when there is a style sheet involved? Do we check
that out
> separately so
> that one of us can make changes to it, and the other can
use it read-only?
>
> Thanks,
> John Fistere
>