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CSS vs. HTML: What’s the Difference and Which is Better?

The Origins and History of HTML

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, was created in the early 1990s by Tim Berners-Lee. At the time, Berners-Lee was working at CERN and sought to develop a simple yet powerful way of linking documents on the early internet by using hypertext.

The first public description of HTML came in 1991 with the publishing of the HTML tags specification. Then in 1993, the first graphical web browser called Mosaic was released, which helped popularize HTML and the web as a whole.

Over the years HTML continued to evolve, with new versions adding advanced features like video embedding, semantic tags, and improved accessibility support. The latest version is HTML5, finalized in 2014. Some key enhancements in HTML5 include:

  • Native multimedia support without plugins
  • Semantic tags like
    ,

    ,

  • Better canvas and vector graphics capabilities
  • WAI-ARIA accessibility extensions
  • Asynchronous JavaScript capabilities via the async and defer attributes

HTML remains among the most widely adopted languages globally thanks to its universality across operating systems and devices. The simplicity of tags also makes HTML relatively easy to learn.

The Origins and Evolution of CSS

CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets, was proposed in 1994 by Håkon Wium Lie as a way to style web documents. It was designed to provide presentational capabilities that HTML on its own lacked at the time.

The first CSS specification was published in 1996. Adoption was slow at first, but increased over time thanks to the rise of web standards initiatives.

Key milestones in CSS history include:

  • CSS Level 2 in 1998 extending capabilities and gaining adoption
  • W3C separate CSS working group formed in 1997
  • Media queries and advanced layout introduced in CSS Level 3
  • Responsive design takes off fueled by CSS3 flexbox and grid

The current version, CSS3, was started in 2011 and split into modular specifications. This enabled subsets to progress independently based on maturity and priority.

As with HTML5, CSS3 included many crucial new features:

  • Flexible box layout model
  • Grid-based layout system
  • Advanced selectors and combinators
  • Custom fonts via @font-face
  • Animations, transforms, shadows and gradients that don’t require plugins

This combination of increased capabilities and flexibility solidified CSS as an essential part of any modern web project.

HTML vs CSS – Key Differences and Similarities

Now that we’ve covered a brief history of HTML and CSS, let’s explore how exactly they differ—and where they overlap.

The Purpose and Functions of HTML vs CSS

In basic terms, HTML and CSS serve distinct yet complementary purposes:

  • HTML structures and defines content semantics
  • CSS controls styling, positioning, visuals

To use a house analogy:

  • HTML is the framing and infrastructure
  • CSS is the paint, fixtures, furnishings

Or in a human body:

  • HTML is the skeleton
  • CSS is clothing/hairstyle/accessories

HTML handles document structure and meaning—establishing hierarchies via headings and relationships through links. HTML tells the browser important info like:

  • This content is a navigation menu vs prose text
  • This word should be emphasized
  • This image supports the surrounding text
  • This is a 3rd level heading that falls under that 2nd level heading

HTML also provides metadata relevant for SEO, accessibility, microformats too.

CSS then layers on visual and layout styling atop the structure and semantics from HTML:

  • The nav links should be vertically stacked, in this font, with these highlights
  • First paragraphs use a drop cap style first letter
  • Images are centered with rounded corners
  • Third level headings are bold and blue

Comparing the Syntax of HTML and CSS

The syntaxes of HTML and CSS are rather different as well:

HTML Syntax Rules

HTML elements consist of tags surrounded by angle brackets defining the content:

<tagname>Content goes here...</tagname>

Like headings:



<p>This is a paragraph of text under it.</p>

And links:

<a href="https://website.com/">Link text goes here</a>

It is a logical, easy to understand structure.

CSS Syntax Conventions

CSS consists of rulesets having a selector, property, and value:

selector {
  property: value; 
}

For example: 

h1 {
  color: blue; 
  font-size: 20px;
}

The flexible nature provides powerful abstractions—but can take some getting used to.

As you can see, while both have a fairly straightforward syntax, HTML is oriented around structure while CSS is centered on applying visual treatments declaratively.

Browser Support and Compatibility

In terms of browser support, both HTML and CSS are universally supported in all modern web browsers. However there are some differences:

  • HTML elements and attributes generally have wider support. For example, tables have 95%+ since IE6, while CSS Grid has only 84% support currently.
  • CSS browser prefixes were often required for support of newer capabilities before becoming standardized. This creates a higher burden for consistent CSS vs HTML styling.
  • HTML provides fallback paths natively—CSS fails silently so requires defence via @supports, Modernizr etc.

That being said, the level of support continues rising across CSS and HTML APIs. Developers today can safely leverage most features across evergreen browsers. Progressive enhancement remains a good practice though.

Relevance to Other Front-end Languages

Beyond browsers, HTML and CSS also factor into other front-end frameworks and static site generators.

For example, tools like React and Vue leverage a browser’s built-in parsing capabilities by having you return HTML via JavaScript. So knowledge of HTML semantics remains relevant.

CSS methodologies like BEM, OOCSS, and SMACSS have also emerged to better facilitate styling complex applications. So CSS architectural principles translate to component libraries too.

Finally, static site generators like Jekyll, Hugo, and Gatsby all integrate with CSS and HTML for providing structure, content, and presentation. Authors write Markdown that compiles to HTML and is styled using CSS.

So HTML and CSS are very intertwined with other core front-end languages—they complement each other rather than competing.

Using HTML and CSS Together in Web Design

When looking at a live website, HTML and CSS work seamlessly together to determine what you actually see on the page.

The typical process looks like this:

  1. HTML provides the underlying structure
  2. The browser generates the DOM tree from the HTML
  3. CSS rules match up with DOM elements
  4. Visual styles and layouts are applied accordingly
  5. The user sees the rendered & formatted content

To better understand how this plays out in practice, let‘s walk through a quick example.

Pretend we are structuring a blog post with HTML:

<article>


  <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean efficitur sit amet massa fringilla egestas. Nullam condimentum luctus turpis.</p>

  <aside>Additional information here...</aside>

  <footer>Posted on <time>Jan 1, 2023</time></footer>
</article>

We can then style this using CSS:

article h1 {
  font-size: 42px;
  color: rebeccapurple;  
}

p {
  line-height: 1.6;
  font-size: 18px; 
}

aside {
  background-color: #EEE;
  border: 1px solid #999;
  padding: 12px;
}

time {
  color: #666;
  text-transform: uppercase;  
}

Thanks to the combination of structural HTML and presentation-focused CSS, we end up with a nicely formatted blog post—without needing to directly style everything inline.

This separation of concerns is what makes HTML + CSS so powerful for web design.

Can CSS Be Used Without HTML?

An important distinction between HTML and CSS is that CSS can be used without HTML—but not vice versa.

As mentioned, CSS was specifically created to provide styling capabilities absent in early HTML specifications.

However CSS was designed to work with any XML-based markup language. So it can be used to style documents like SVG and even XML derivatives like JSX:

// JSX document
const element = <MyComponent className="fancy-styles" />
/* Corresponding CSS */ 
.fancy-styles {
  font-family: cursive;
  background-image: url(background.jpeg);
}

So in summary—CSS allows styling any structured document format, not just HTML. HTML focuses specifically on web content semantics instead.

Key Reasons to Use HTML

Based on what we’ve covered so far, some of the key advantages and reasons to use HTML include:

  • Provides structure and semantics crucial for web documents
  • Universally understood by all web browsers
  • Search engines rely on HTML for indexing and ranking pages
  • Essential building block when using CSS, JavaScript, web frameworks
  • Wide range of supporting tools like validators, linters and WYSIWYG editors
  • Achieves content/presentation separation when combined with CSS
  • Self-contained fallback for legacy browsers or non-HTML environments

Put simply, HTML remains the best language for defining web content structure anywhere text documents are involved.

Why CSS is a Gamechanger for Designers

Now let’s look at some of the biggest benefits using CSS delivers:

  • Designers achieve full control over style and visual layouts—fonts, colors spacing and more
  • Central style sheets allow global changes across entire websites
  • Media queries enable responsive designs that adapt to any device
  • Animation and transition effects engage users and improve UX
  • Lesser-known features like CSS counters, shapes and variables boost capabilities
  • Preprocessors like Sass and PostCSS extend functionality even further
  • Decoupling presentation from structure makes iteration and rebranding simpler

CSS empowers designers to craft polished, flexible and robust interfaces much easier than with HTML alone. This makes it an indispensable tool for web development today.

HTML vs CSS – Which Should You Learn First?

For those looking to build websites themselves, a common question is whether to begin with HTML or CSS skills.

I generally recommend starting with HTML first.

Without any structural content in place, even advanced CSS styling won’t have much of an effect. HTML provides tangible output you see immediately in the browser.

However CSS is not far behind in importance. And it’s useful to try applying basic CSS styling like colors, sizes and spacing as soon as even basic page structure is in place.

The key is ensuring you learn HTML + CSS in parallel, not sequentially. This helps cement understanding of how they complement one another.

For the first site you build, focus on structuring quality content with HTML. But don’t be afraid to also tinker with CSS out of the gate to bring that content to life visually.

The Final Verdict: HTML and CSS are Both Equally Valuable

By now it should be clear HTML and CSS serve distinct complementary roles.

HTML provides meaning and structure. CSS enables presentation and styling.

Neither language delivers the complete web development picture alone. Having both HTML for content and CSS for design is what unlocks the full potential of web documents.

In that sense it’s impossible to claim either HTML or CSS is universally “better”. They must work together to create engaging user experiences on the modern web.

Understanding where HTML stops and CSS starts is key. Expect HTML to cover document semantics—and CSS to handle all related cosmetics and design treatments.

Keep this crucial separation of structure and presentation in mind, and you’ll be leveraging the right language for the task at hand each time.

The result will be robust and flexible sites offering the best of both worlds when it comes to authoring and aesthetics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use HTML without CSS?

Yes, you can absolutely use HTML without CSS. In fact HTML existed for years before CSS became commonplace. The content will render with browser default formatting though.

Is CSS mandatory for HTML pages?

No, CSS is not mandatory per se. HTML provides basic styling like bold, headers, etc out of the box. But CSS unlocks far greater design flexibility—so is extremely commonly paired with HTML.

Can I use CSS on its own without HTML?

Yes, CSS can style any XML document type, it’s not limited only to HTML. Common examples include styling SVG images and even JSX used in React apps.

Is CSS easier to learn than HTML?

It depends on the person—both are relatively straightforward for beginners in my experience. HTML tends to be more intuitive upfront given its structural nature. But CSS gives more visual feedback.

Which pays better, HTML or CSS focus?

Salaries are driven more by overall front-end development skill level. Professionals able to utilize both HTML and CSS fluently tend to be most in demand and highest paid.

I hope this guide has helped demystify core differences between HTML and CSS! Let me know if you have any other questions.

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