BestWeb Nashville

Modern Web Design: The Four Essentials

Separation of Content from Presentation

Nashville Web Design Resources

fractal art - nashville web development

What does separation of the site's content from the site's appearance or presentation actually mean? In a nutshell, it calls for your XHTML code to contain no "presentation" markup: nothing that describes how it looks, while all the "look and feel" instructions should be part of your CSS.

Of course, words fail to describe the significance of separation of content from presentation any more clearly than a working example. To get a crystal clear idea of the significance of this, please see the CSS Zen Garden. Explore some of the designs, and keep in mind that you're looking at exactly the same XHTML document the whole time. If you are new to this, then you will be shocked that, in spite of the way different looks of these Zen Garden sites, they all have exactly the same XHTML code!

Beyond all the perfectly reasonable arguments re: bandwidth savings, faster throughput, and increased accessibility, imagine how much simpler your job will be the next time a site redesign is called for. Site-wide re-coding no longer necessary!

A further benefit to the separation of content from presentation is that the designer can work to refine the design through the CSS file (the look and feel) without interfering with the development team's work. Designers and developers could work on the site simultaneously and independently -- another practical reason to keep content and presentation separate.

Granted, a content management system (CMS) may be in the way for some, but if it is within your power to separate your content and presentation, the practical benefits far outweigh the initial learning curve.