The first go round for Cascading Style Sheets, which enhances control and customization of Web pages across different media, was something of a disappointment. That was mainly because implementation in browsers was uneven, or worse. But there are higher hopes for Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 (CSS2), which the World Wide Web Consortium today released as an official W3C recommendation. It's hoped that CSS2 will make for richer, more easily managed Web pages. The second version adds downloadable fonts, allows authors to control positioning of content on pages, and detects the type of device that pages are being displayed or printed on. Microsoft and Netscape have promised full support of the specification in their browser software.

The W3C's recommendation, the final step in the approval process, means the spec has been deemed stable and a contribution to Web interoperability. Companies behind the development of the spec include Adobe Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, Netscape, and Silicon Graphics.

http://www.w3c.org/Style/css/

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