cument written in [ HTML ](/en-US/docs/Web/HTML) or [ XML ](/en-
US/docs/Web/XML/XML_introduction) (including XML dialects such as [ SVG ](/en-
US/docs/Web/SVG) , [ MathML ](/en-US/docs/Web/MathML) or [ XHTML ](/en-
US/docs/Glossary/XHTML) ). CSS describes how elements should be rendered on
screen, on paper, in speech, or on other media.

CSS is among the core languages of the **open web** and is standardized across
Web browsers according to [ W3C specifications
](https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#specs) . Previously, the development of
various parts of CSS specification was done synchronously, which allowed the
versioning of the latest recommendations. You might have heard about CSS1,
CSS2.1, or even CSS3. There will never be a CSS3 or a CSS4; rather, everything
is now CSS without a version number.

After CSS 2.1, the scope of the specification increased significantly and the
progress on different CSS modules started to differ so much, that it became
more effective to [ develop and release recommendations separately per module
](https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work) . Instead of versioning the CSS
specification, W3C now periodically takes a snapshot of [ the latest stable
state of the CSS specification ](https://www.w3.org/TR/css/) and individual
modules progress. CSS modules now have version numbers, or levels, such as [
CSS Color Module Level 5 ](https://drafts.csswg.org/css-color-5/) .

##  Key resources

CSS Introduction

    

If you're new to web development, be sure to read our [ CSS basics ](/en-
US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/CSS_basics) article to learn what
CSS is and how to use it.

CSS Tutorials

    

Our [ CSS learning area ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) contains a wealth of
tutorials to take you from beginner level to proficiency, covering all the
fundamentals.

CSS Reference

    

Our [ exhaustive CSS reference ](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference) for seasoned
Web developers describes every property and concept of CSS.

##  Tutorials

Our [ CSS Learning Area ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) features multiple modules
that teach CSS from the ground up â no previous knowledge required.

[ CSS first steps ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps)

    

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is used to style and layout web pages â for
example, to alter the font, color, size, and spacing of your content, split it
into multiple columns, or add animations and other decorative features. This
module provides a gentle beginning to your path towards CSS mastery with the
basics of how it works, what the syntax looks like, and how you can start
using it to add styling to HTML.

[ CSS building blocks ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks)

    

This module carries on where [ CSS first steps ](/en-
US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps) left off â now you've gained familiarity with
the language and its syntax, and got some basic experience with using it, it's
time to dive a bit deeper. This module looks at the cascade and inheritance,
all the selector types we have available, units, sizing, styling backgrounds
and borders, debugging, and lots more.

The aim here is to provide you with a toolkit for writing competent CSS and
help you understand all the essential theory, before moving on to more
specific disciplines like [ text styling ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text)
and [ CSS layout ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout) .

[ CSS styling text ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text)

    

With the basics of the CSS language covered, the next CSS topic for you to
concentrate on is styling text â one of the most common things you'll do
with CSS. Here we look at text styling fundamentals, including setting font,
boldness, italics, line and letter spacing, drop shadows, and other text
features. We round off the module by looking at applying custom fonts to your
page, and styling lists and links.

[ CSS layout ](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout)

    

At this point we've already looked at CSS fundamentals, how to style text, and
how to style a