How to Use CSS with Different Media Types

See CSS: Tips and Tricks for similar articles.

Styles can be defined for different media. For example, you may want to style a page one way for viewing with a browser and a different way for viewing in print. The media type is defined in the <link> tag for external style sheets and in the <style> tag for embedded style sheets.

If the media is undefined then the style rules will apply to all media. Possible values for media are:

all
print
screen
speech

In the following example, we'll create style rules for screen and print using CSS.

Create a style element with the media set to screen:


<style type="text/css" media="screen">
	.warning {
		color: #ff0000;
	}
	h1.warning {
		text-decoration: underline;
	}
	p.warning {
		font-weight: bold;
	}
		.printDisplay {
		display: none;
	}
</style>

The text will look like this: Screen Version

Create a style element with the media set to print:


<style type="text/css" media="print">
.warning {
		color: #660000;
	}
		h1.warning {
		text-decoration: underline;
		font-size: 1in;
	}
	p.warning {
		font-weight: bold;
		font-size: .5in;
	}
	.screenDisplay {
		display: none;
	}
</style>

The text will look like this: Print Version

The final markup will look like this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>CSS Media</title>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
	.warning {
		color: #ff0000;
	}
	h1.warning {
		text-decoration: underline;
	}
	p.warning {
		font-weight: bold;
	}
	.printDisplay {
		display: none;
	}
</style>
<style type="text/css" media="print">
	.warning {
		color: #660000;
	}
	h1.warning {
		text-decoration: underline;
		font-size: 1in;
	}
	p.warning {
		font-weight: bold;
		font-size: .5in;
	}
	.screenDisplay {
		display: none;
	}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1 class="warning">WARNING</h1>
	<p class="warning">Don't go there!</p>
	<p class="printDisplay">This is the print version.</p>
	<p class="screenDisplay">This is the screen version.</p>
</body>
</html>

How to Use CSS with Different Media Types

Related Articles