csszengarden.com < that sites a good read here is a good starting point file they provide
Download the sample html file and css file to work on a copy locally like the others above have suggested.
The .html file is laid out with tables lists links, etc. Just edit the .css file and refresh the .html file in your browser to see how changing the .css affects the main document
save as sample.css
/* css Zen Garden default style v1.02 */
/* css released under Creative Commons License - [url]http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/[/url] */
/* This file based on 'Tranquille' by Dave Shea */
/* You may use this file as a foundation for any new work, but you may find it easier to start from scratch. */
/* Not all elements are defined in this file, so you'll most likely want to refer to the xhtml as well. */
/* Your images should be linked as if the CSS file sits in the same folder as the images. ie. no paths. */
/* basic elements */
html {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
body {
font: 75% georgia, sans-serif;
line-height: 1.88889;
color: #555753;
background: #fff url(blossoms.jpg) no-repeat bottom right;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
p {
margin-top: 0;
text-align: justify;
}
h3 {
font: italic normal 1.4em georgia, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 1px;
margin-bottom: 0;
color: #7D775C;
}
a:link {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
color: #B7A5DF;
}
a:visited {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
color: #D4CDDC;
}
a:hover, a:active {
text-decoration: underline;
color: #9685BA;
}
acronym {
border-bottom: none;
}
/* specific divs */
#container {
background: url(zen-bg.jpg) no-repeat top left;
padding: 0 175px 0 110px;
margin: 0;
position: relative;
}
#intro {
min-width: 470px;
}
/* using an image to replace text in an h1. This trick courtesy Douglas Bowman, [url]http://www.stopdesign.com/articles/css/replace-text/[/url] */
#pageHeader h1 {
background: transparent url(h1.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin-top: 10px;
width: 219px;
height: 87px;
float: left;
}
#pageHeader h1 span {
display:none
}
#pageHeader h2 {
background: transparent url(h2.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin-top: 58px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
width: 200px;
height: 18px;
float: right;
}
#pageHeader h2 span {
display:none
}
#pageHeader {
padding-top: 20px;
}
#quickSummary {
clear:both;
margin: 20px 20px 20px 10px;
width: 160px;
float: left;
}
#quickSummary p {
font: italic 10pt/22pt georgia;
text-align:center;
}
#preamble {
clear: right;
padding: 0px 10px 0 10px;
}
#supportingText {
padding-left: 10px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
}
#footer {
text-align: center;
}
#footer a:link, #footer a:visited {
margin-right: 20px;
}
#linkList {
margin-left: 600px;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
}
#linkList2 {
font: 10px verdana, sans-serif;
background: transparent url(paper-bg.jpg) top left repeat-y;
padding: 10px;
margin-top: 150px;
width: 130px;
}
#linkList h3.select {
background: transparent url(h3.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin: 10px 0 5px 0;
width: 97px;
height: 16px;
}
#linkList h3.select span {
display:none
}
#linkList h3.favorites {
background: transparent url(h4.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin: 25px 0 5px 0;
width: 60px;
height: 18px;
}
#linkList h3.favorites span {
display:none
}
#linkList h3.archives {
background: transparent url(h5.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin: 25px 0 5px 0;
width:57px;
height: 14px;
}
#linkList h3.archives span {
display:none
}
#linkList h3.resources {
background: transparent url(h6.gif) no-repeat top left;
margin: 25px 0 5px 0;
width:63px;
height: 10px;
}
#linkList h3.resources span {
display:none
}
#linkList ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
#linkList li {
line-height: 2.5ex;
background: transparent url(cr1.gif) no-repeat top center;
display: block;
padding-top: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
list-style-type: none;
}
#linkList li a:link {
color: #988F5E;
}
#linkList li a:visited {
color: #B3AE94;
}
#extraDiv1 {
background: transparent url(cr2.gif) top left no-repeat;
position: absolute;
top: 40px;
right: 0;
width: 148px;
height: 110px;
}
.accesskey {
text-decoration: underline;
}
save as sample.html
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" >
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<meta name="author" content="Dave Shea" />
<meta name="keywords" content="design, css, cascading, style, sheets, xhtml, graphic design, w3c, web standards, visual, display" />
<meta name="description" content="A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design." />
<meta name="robots" content="all" />
<title>css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design</title>
<script type="text/javascript"></script>
<style type="text/css" media="all">
@import "sample.css";
</style>
</head>
<!--
This xhtml document is marked up to provide the designer with the maximum possible flexibility.
There are more classes and extraneous tags than needed, and in a real world situation, it's more
likely that it would be much leaner.
However, I think we can all agree that even given that, we're still better off than if this had been
built with tables.
-->
<body onload="window.defaultStatus='css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design';" id="css-zen-garden">
<div id="container">
<div id="intro">
<div id="pageHeader">
<h1><span>css Zen Garden</span></h1>
<h2><span>The Beauty of <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> Design</span></h2>
</div>
<div id="quickSummary">
<p class="p1"><span>A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>-based design. Select any style sheet from the list to load it into this page.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span>Download the sample [url="zengarden-sample.html"]html file[/url] and [url="zengarden-sample.css"]css file[/url]</span></p>
</div>
<div id="preamble">
<h3><span>The Road to Enlightenment</span></h3>
<p class="p1"><span>Littering a dark and dreary road lay the past relics of browser-specific tags, incompatible <acronym title="Document Object Model">DOM</acronym>s, and broken <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> support.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span>Today, we must clear the mind of past practices. Web enlightenment has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of folk like the <acronym title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</acronym>, <acronym title="Web Standards Project">WaSP</acronym> and the major browser creators.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span>The css Zen Garden invites you to relax and meditate on the important lessons of the masters. Begin to see with clarity. Learn to use the (yet to be) time-honored techniques in new and invigorating fashion. Become one with the web.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="supportingText">
<div id="explanation">
<h3><span>So What is This About?</span></h3>
<p class="p1"><span>There is clearly a need for <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> to be taken seriously by graphic artists. The Zen Garden aims to excite, inspire, and encourage participation. To begin, view some of the existing designs in the list. Clicking on any one will load the style sheet into this very page. The code remains the same, the only thing that has changed is the external .css file. Yes, really.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span><acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> allows complete and total control over the style of a hypertext document. The only way this can be illustrated in a way that gets people excited is by demonstrating what it can truly be, once the reins are placed in the hands of those able to create beauty from structure. To date, most examples of neat tricks and hacks have been demonstrated by structurists and coders. Designers have yet to make their mark. This needs to change.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="participation">
<h3><span>Participation</span></h3>
<p class="p1"><span>Graphic artists only please. You are modifying this page, so strong <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> skills are necessary, but the example files are commented well enough that even <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> novices can use them as starting points. Please see the [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/resources/"]<acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> Resource Guide[/url] for advanced tutorials and tips on working with <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span>You may modify the style sheet in any way you wish, but not the <acronym title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</acronym>. This may seem daunting at first if you’ve never worked this way before, but follow the listed links to learn more, and use the sample files as a guide.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span>Download the sample [url="zengarden-sample.html"]html file[/url] and [url="zengarden-sample.css"]css file[/url] to work on a copy locally. Once you have completed your masterpiece (and please, don’t submit half-finished work) upload your .css file to a web server under your control. [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/submit/"]Send us a link[/url] to the file and if we choose to use it, we will spider the associated images. Final submissions will be placed on our server.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="benefits">
<h3><span>Benefits</span></h3>
<p class="p1"><span>Why participate? For recognition, inspiration, and a resource we can all refer to when making the case for <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>-based design. This is sorely needed, even today. More and more major sites are taking the leap, but not enough have. One day this gallery will be a historical curiosity; that day is not today.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="requirements">
<h3><span>Requirements</span></h3>
<p class="p1"><span>We would like to see as much <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets, version 1">CSS1</acronym> as possible. <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets, version 2">CSS2</acronym> should be limited to widely-supported elements only. The css Zen Garden is about functional, practical <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> and not the latest bleeding-edge tricks viewable by 2% of the browsing public. The only real requirement we have is that your <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> validates.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span>Unfortunately, designing this way highlights the flaws in the various implementations of <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>. Different browsers display differently, even completely valid <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> at times, and this becomes maddening when a fix for one leads to breakage in another. View the [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/resources/"]Resources[/url] page for information on some of the fixes available. Full browser compliance is still sometimes a pipe dream, and we do not expect you to come up with pixel-perfect code across every platform. But do test in as many as you can. If your design doesn’t work in at least IE5+/Win and Mozilla (run by over 90% of the population), chances are we won’t accept it.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span>We ask that you submit original artwork. Please respect copyright laws. Please keep objectionable material to a minimum; tasteful nudity is acceptable, outright pornography will be rejected.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span>This is a learning exercise as well as a demonstration. You retain full copyright on your graphics (with limited exceptions, see [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/submit/guidelines/"]submission guidelines[/url]), but we ask you release your <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> under a Creative Commons license identical to the [url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sa/1.0/"]one on this site[/url] so that others may learn from your work.</span></p>
<p class="p5"><span>Bandwidth graciously donated by [url="http://www.dreamfirestudios.com/"]DreamFire Studios[/url]</span></p>
</div>
<div id="footer">
[url="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"]xhtml[/url]
[url="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"]css[/url]
[url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/"]cc[/url]
[url="http://mezzoblue.com/zengarden/faq/#s508"]508[/url]
[url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/faq/#aaa"]aaa[/url]
</div>
</div>
<div id="linkList">
<div id="linkList2">
<div id="lselect">
<h3 class="select"><span>Select a Design:</span></h3>
<ul>
[*][url="/"]Sample #1[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #2[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #3[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #4[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #5[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #6[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #7[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[*][url="/"]Sample #8[/url] by [url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/"]Dave Shea[/url]
[/list]
</div>
<div id="larchives">
<h3 class="archives"><span>Archives:</span></h3>
<ul>
[*][url="/"]<span class="accesskey">n</span>ext designs »[/url]
[*][url="/"]« <span class="accesskey">p</span>revious designs[/url]
[*][url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/"]Vie<span class="accesskey">w</span> All Designs[/url]
[/list]
</div>
<div id="lresources">
<h3 class="resources"><span>Resources:</span></h3>
<ul>
[*][url="http://www.csszengarden.com/001/001.css"]<span class="accesskey">V</span>iew This Design’s <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>[/url]
[*][url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/resources/"]<acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> <span class="accesskey">R</span>esources[/url]
[*][url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/faq/"]<acronym title="Frequently Asked Questions">FA<span class="accesskey">Q</span></acronym>[/url]
[*][url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/submit/"]<span class="accesskey">S</span>ubmit a Design[/url]
[*][url="http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/translations/"]<span class="accesskey">T</span>ranslations[/url]
[/list]
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="extraDiv1"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv2"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv3"><span></span></div>
<div id="extraDiv4"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv5"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv6"><span></span></div>
</body>
</html>
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