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Structure

1. Reset
I could as well link one of the many reset.css style sheets, but to save on server requests, I’ve decided to put the reset styles on the top of my main CSS file.

2. Base
The html, body and defaults for other basic html elements go here. This section is usually pretty minimal, because I like to style elements as they come along in the source. That way I have more control over the styles and less overriding to do later on.

3. Structure
You might opt to let this section go, depending on whether you like to separate the container divs from other styles or not.

4. Header
The definitions for styling the header of your site go here.

5. Content
The definitions for styling the content section of your site go here.

6. Footer
The definitions for styling the footer of your site go here and again you might skip this section if your site has no footer.

7. Navigation
The various menus, breadcrumbs indicator, etc.

8. Modules
I use this section to define the separate modules or blocks used on my site. News, polls, events lists, flickr feeds, quick links, and similar sections are usually defined here.

9. Forms
I like to put all the forms in one place, this proved to be a wise decision over time.

10. Custom Classes
I put here various reusable classes that are frequently shared throughout the site. You might not need this section if your site is a simple one, but when it grows too complex, you might find this section handy.

11. Everything Else
All that you can’t fit anywhere above. Usually this section only ends up only having a few classes.

12. Print Styles
If you don’t store your print styles in a separate file, this is the place to define them with a @media print block. You should put this section as the last one, as you potentially want to override any previous CSS declaration.

Sample

Here is some code from a sample style file. I’ve omitted most of the code for simplicity sake, but I’ve left section and sub-section comments in.

/*
 *  Table Of Sections
 *
 *  1. Reset
 *  2. Basic Elements
 *  3. Generic Classes
 *  4. Basic Layout
 *  5. Header
 *  6. Content
 *  7. Sidebar
 *  8. Footer
 *  9. Navigation
 * 10. Forms
 * 11. Modules
 * 12. Print styles
 *
 */

/* Reset  - do NOT modify!
-------------------------------------*/
html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe,
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre,
a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code,
del, dfn, em, font, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp,
small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var,
b, u, i, center,
dl, dt, dd, ol, ul, li,
fieldset, form, label, legend,
table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td {
	margin: 0;
	padding: 0;
	border: 0;
	outline: 0;
	font-size: 100%;
	vertical-align: baseline;
	background: transparent;
}
body { line-height: 1; }
ol, ul { list-style: none; }
blockquote, q {	quotes: none; }

/* remember to define focus styles! */
:focus { outline: 0; }

/* remember to highlight inserts somehow! */
ins { text-decoration: none; }
del { text-decoration: line-through; }

/* tables still need 'cellspacing="0"' in the markup */
table {
	border-collapse: collapse;
	border-spacing: 0;
}

/* Basic Elements
-------------------------------------*/
html, body { height: 100%; }

body {
	font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;
	font-size: 62.5%; /* 1em = 10px */
	line-height: 1.5em;
	color: #333;
	background: gray;
}

/* Generic Classes
-------------------------------------*/
/* --- Link list --- */
/* --- News list --- */
/* --- Attachments list --- */
/* --- Links --- */
/* --- Messages --- */
/* --- photo frame & content photos --- */
/* --- Other --- */

/* Basic Layout
-------------------------------------*/

/* Header
-------------------------------------*/

/* Content
-------------------------------------*/
/* external link */
/* --- video --- */
/* --- unsorted list --- */
/* --- numbered list --- */
/* --- tables --- */
/* --- Icons in content --- */
/* --- Search results --- */
/* --- Photogallery --- */
/* --- News --- */

/* Sidebar
-------------------------------------*/

/* Footer
-------------------------------------*/

/* Navigation
-------------------------------------*/
/* --- Breadcrumbs --- */
/* --- Sitemap --- */
/* --- Main Menu --- */

/* Forms
-------------------------------------*/

/* Modules
-------------------------------------*/
/* --- News --- */
/* --- FAQ --- */
/* --- Poll --- */
/* --- Quick links --- */

/* Print styles
-------------------------------------*/
@media print {

	/* Your print styles go here */

}

So, here it is – a nice organized layout for your CSS declarations. I hope you find it useful as much as I did and I’d love to hear from you if you have any comments or suggestions to improve this.

via Web Fonts Now, for real – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report.

As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design.

via Introducing Typekit « The Typekit Blog.

Someone should really write a conditionally included universal CSS file to handle IE6 bugs and just be off with it. On the other hand, there are other approaches such as providing a universal readable and pleasant style just for IE6 users and hoping the clients will be happy with it.

Check the proposed style in question at Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS | For A Beautiful Web.

Personally, for elements where accessibility matters, like navigation menus, etc. I prefer hiding those elements with a short javascript statement I put right after the element I want to hide. This way the user does not notice the element getting closed and best of all, it remains accessible to all.

The Box Model

The box model is a term used when referring to the rectangular boxes placed around every element in the page source (source document). It is one of the most basic concepts every web designer should know by heart.

The box model is constructed with the following boxes or layers:

1. Content
The innermost part of the box is the html element itself or content, such as “<div>”, “<p>”, “<h1>”, “<ul>” … etc. The CSS width property defines the width of this element, similar goes for the height.

div {
    position: absolute;
    width: 150px; /* set the div element to be 150 pixels wide... */
    height: 40px; /* ... and 40 pixels tall */
}

2. Padding
Next we have the padding property, which is the first layer you’d encounter going outwards from the actual element covered in the previous point.

div {
    position: absolute;
    width: 150px;
    height: 40px;
    padding: 30px 20px 30px 20px; /* add 30 pixels to the top and bottom, and 20 pixels to the left and right padding */
}

3. Border
The middle layer in the box model is the element’s border. The space used by the border in the box model is the thickness of the border.

div {
    position: absolute;
    width: 150px;
    height: 40px;
    padding: 30px 20px 30px 20px;
    border: 1px solid #EFD5B4; /* add a solid 1 pixel thick border with the #EFD5B4 color */
}

Above I’ve used a shorthand notation to define the border’s thickness, style and color. If you wanted, you could break down each of these three properties into their top, right, bottom and left components, but I’m not going into that in this tutorial. You can read more on shorthand notations in the first Back to The Basics article, The Shorthand CSS Notation Explained.

4. Margin
Then we have the margin, which is the space just outside the border.

div {
    position: absolute;
    width: 150px;
    height: 40px;
    padding: 30px 20px 30px 20px;
    border: 1px solid #EFD5B4;
    margin: 30px; /* add a 30 pixels margin around the element */
}

Perhaps it is in order to mention that there are some bugs associated with proper margin handling in certain browsers, particularly IE 5 and 6. One of the nastiest bugs is the doubled margin bug, which basically doubles the left and/or right margin if the element is floated. Thankfully this bug has been squashed in IE 7. For a quick fix to this bug, take a look at the last tip in the article 5 CSS Tips to Make IE (You) Happy

The sum of the layers above – left and right margins, border, padding, and the content width – defines the total box width. Similarly, the sum of the top and bottom margins, border, padding, and the content height defines the total box height. Take in consideration this model when specifying margins, borders and paddings to elements – basically, everything adds to the width/height of the element.

5. Position
Lastly we have the position of the element, which is measured from around the bounds of the margin of the element. The position is set with the top, right, bottom and left CSS properties.

div {
    position: absolute;
    width: 150px;
    height: 40px;
    padding: 30px 20px 30px 20px;
    border: 1px solid #EFD5B4;
    margin: 30px;
    top: 10px; /* move the element 10 pixels down from the parent element box */
    left: 10px; /* move the element 10 pixels right from the parent element box */
}

Conclusion

I recommend you to install Firebug, a great web development plugin for Firefox. Firebug has a useful box model view represented in the image above.

There are tons of details if you want to dig deeper into the box model. If you want to know more, visit The Box Model document and the Visual formatting model details document, both located over at W3.org.

Thanks for reading!