CSS uses external style sheets containing ALL of your style and layout code which is far more effective and easier to manage. By using CSS you can keep your site clean, tidy, and place objects wherever you want them to sit on your web page.

As mentioned above CSS uses separate files which contain all of your styling code. These files link directly to your web pages meaning that you don't need to place pages of extra code on them.

CSS files can be made using notepad, there are specific programs out there that lay out the code in a special way to ease reading. We use Dreamweaver, mainly because we use Dreamweaver to edit the majority of our website files. We would advise you to read up on CSS – this is a good book - Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design by Christopher Schmitt, Mark Trammell, Ethan Marcotte and Todd Dominey.

We would also advise you to goto http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Overview.en.html. They offer some excellent resources and advice to all beginners and professionals alike.

CSS should conform to w3 compatibility guidelines. There is a great validator on the W3 website that will check through your code and let you know of any issues that may have or will arise. Web standards are important so try and understand why and how to stay within the guidelines on the W3 website.

Once you get your head around using CSS you will find a whole new world open and an almost unlimited way to align/design your website. Enjoy.

You can also view the article here - CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

As a company based in Manchester we have found there are hundreds of web design agency. So which one do you choose? Like so many people deciding on price tends to be at the forefront of any purchase of services or goods. Price is a problem when buying a website, with so many cheap web design companies in Manchester you wonder why they are so cheap and whether they have the quality to go with it. This brings me to the point of ‘You pay for what you get’. Paying for what you get seems to be the case with lower end and newer web design agencies; cheap tends to be rushed and not clearly thought about. Our advice is to shop around and especially take a closer look at their portfolio and ring those listed in there.

On occasions cheap can mean that the cost is spread out, this is a good approach – especially in light of the current climate – and can help your budget by stopping you from spending a vast amount of money up front. This can perhaps leave you with money to spend on marketing. We offer this kind of service and have found more and more businesses are choosing this route and why not – it’s a great way of testing the water with an online presence and it’s not going to make the business bankrupt! You can be up and running within say a week and while the sites being built you can do some homework on SEO techniques and learn how to use Google Adwords. Google Adwords can get you a spot on the advertisers section of google on a particular keyword – bear in mind that this can be expensive so choose your keywords wisely. Our advice would be to use niche keywords, they have a lower cost per click and are better targeted.

Cheap web design is a good option if you are careful and choose a reputable company who’s been around and takes their sector seriously. It’s a great way to get your business noticed when paired with a good marketing strategy. In fact this is the key point – it’s all very well having a pretty website with all the bells and whistles but if no one can see it what’s the point? So, if you go for a cheap web design company make sure you check their background, ring a few of their clients and asses how you will market the site. A good reputable web design agency will always help and direct you with online marketing strategies.

There are rumours that Facebook will launch a music service next month. Spotify, MOG and Rdio are also rumoured to be involved. The idea is that Face book will not directly host the music but rather use a platform for media content - similar to the applications and games platforms they presently use.

We have also heard that Facebook intend to stream movies, this is unlikely but the f8 developer conference on the 22nd Sept will enlighten us.

Amazon are set to unveil the launch of their newly designed website. The design has been especially adapted to appeal to tablet and PC owners. Not hugely exciting news but will be interesting to see what they've done - I imagine it was a daunting task.