Guide to the KU CSS stylesheets

The Web Template for the University of Kansas makes heavy use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). If you are new to CSS, it is highly recommended that you first take the "Dreamweaver: Visual Design using CSS" workshop offered by KU Libraries Instructional Services.

The CSS for the KU Template has undergone many changes from the previous version. If you were to view the source for the main ku css file, you would see:

  1. A layout stylesheet. This handles all the layout of the template. It begins with a CSS reset, to help all browsers start from a commonly defined set of styles. Following that is the grid framework based off of the Blueprint CSS framework that is used throughout the KU template. Finally are KU specific layout items
  2. A presentation stylesheet. This handles fonts, colors, and other visual elements.
  3. A print stylesheet. This allows each page to print in an easily readable fashion. Please be aware that printing does not work well in Internet Explorer 6.

While this may seem like a lot of stylesheets for the template, it allows a lot of the work to come off of your shoulders, and brings a great visual experience to the user visiting the site. For details on how to take advantage of these stylesheets, please see: