Style Master 1.2
Western
Civilisation
5/121 Curlewis St.
Bondi Beach
NSW 2026
Australia
phone/fax
[+61 2] 9130 1731
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Quick Review of a Cool Tool
Style Master 1.2
by
Paige Turner
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is one of the best things to happen to HTML
since the table tag but, like the table tag, CSS can seem to be a bitch to
implement. I said "seem to be" since it is actually just getting started
with CSS and learning how to use them that is the problem. Once you know how
they work life should become easier. The learning curve is not all that
steep and there are several good tools for getting the most from CSS Style
Master 1.2 being my current favorite.
Go to Style Master download section.
April 2, 1999
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is one of the best things to happen to HTML
since the table tag but, like the table tag, CSS can seem to be a bitch to
implement. I said "seem to be" since it is actually just getting started
with CSS and learning how to use them that is the problem. Once you know how
they work life should become easier. The learning curve is not all that
steep and there are several good tools for getting the most from CSS Style
Master 1.2 being my current favorite.
Style Master by Western Civilisation (US$29) is yet another cool software
thing to come from the land of OZ. In case HotDog from sausage software in
Melbourne was not enough, clever Aussies came up with yet another Web tool
home-run. This is such a useful tool my guess is they'll get bought,
licensed, or otherwise gobbled-up and included in one of the major HTML
editing programs. Dreamweaver and Homesite both have decent CSS editors
built in but they are nothing compared to Style Master.
Initially I struggled trying to get CSS to adapt to the way I like to work.
This was frustrating for me and those around me who had to listen to my
sometimes obnoxious mutterings while I fought the learning curve. Then I
realized the best thing to do would be to simply learn how CSS likes to do
things and adapt to that. I finally managed to figure out how to get basic
things built using CSS to look OK in both late-model browser versions and
now I can't live without using CSS in my HTML pages.
As part of the learning process I accumulated a pile of reference books and
bookmarks to explanatory Web pages and absorbed just enough about CSS to get
my work done. I had no idea there was so much functionality in CSS until I
opened up Style Master and started fooling around with it. Style Master lets
you create from scratch or edit existing style sheet CSS files. The user
interface is friendly enough to allow you to try out all the weird features
and almost instantly see the effect they will have in different browser
types. This feature alone makes it worth the price. I got in the habit of
keeping both browsers open while I create pages so I can constantly check
what sort of crazy problems my latest tweak to the CSS files has caused.
Style Master makes it so you only need to do such checks occasionally - if
ever.
The other big plus about Style Master is that you can easily try out some of
the more obscure CSS effects without taking too much time to see what
happens when actually used in live pages. I am more or less comfortable with
the basics of CSS so don't really need this tool - it's not that hard to run
up CSS files from scratch. But Style Master would be just the thing for
anyone unfamiliar with the syntax and rules of CSS. Using this tool you not
only don't have to remember all the possible properties for a particular
selector but you don't have to worry about spelling and typing errors. As we
all know, one simple misplaced character can cause untold headaches,
gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes. Style Master should reduce all
that sort of activity in your life.
Style Master is published by an Australian company called Western
Civilisation in Bondi Beach (Sydney). Although it is easy to download the
software from their site http://www.westciv.com, they do not seem to want
anyone to find out where they actually do the work. The contact information
on their site is quite cunningly hidden.
5/121 Curlewis St.
Bondi Beach
NSW 2026
Australia
phone/fax
[+61 2] 9130 1731
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