CSS, what is it?

[LadyLily]

I question I was wondering just now....Is Cascading Style Sheets server or client side technology? I can see both sides, I think.

And what is the difference anyway? I can't seem to grasp that aspect.

[maximumedge]

CSS is a client-side technology. the difference is that a server-side technology is processed on the server and a client-side technology is processed by your browser (in the case of a request for a web site). for example, a perl script being run occurs on the server-side, but javascript being interpreted by your web browser occurs on the client-side.

Jason Weinstein
http://www.MaximumEdge.com/

[tubedogg]

Basically the difference between client-side and server-side is where it is processed. With PHP or Perl, which are server-side languages, they are completely processed before anything is sent to the client (browser). With JavaScript or CSS, client-side languages, everything is sent to the client and the client does the processing.

[lynlimz]

The disadvantages of client-side languages are it requires the specific software with support for that laguage.

if its server-side, all you have to do is get a server which supports that specific language. when it is accessed, say php, its retrieved by the user like any normal html page.

[Aes]

Additionally there are performance issues.

Client side technologies like JavaScript tend to render more slowly (you'll notice on sites with a lot of JavaScript because the client has to download the script and then execute it [which also adds processing requirements into the equation]).

With server side scripts, everything is done on the server (plus, servers tend to be fast and built to run one application at a time: webserver software).