How To Add CSS | External, Internal, and Inline Styles

Three Ways to Insert CSS

There are three ways of inserting a style sheet:

External CSS
Internal CSS
Inline CSS

Example 1: External CSS

With an external style sheet, you can change the look of an entire website by changing just one file!

Each HTML page must include a reference to the external style sheet file inside the <link> element, inside the head section.

<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyle.css">
</head>

Example 2: Internal CSS

An internal style sheet may be used if one single HTML page has a unique style.

The internal style is defined inside the <style> element, inside the head section.

<head>
  <style>
    body {
      background-color: linen;
    }
    h1 {
      color: maroon;
      margin-left: 40px;
    }
  </style>
</head>

Example 3: Inline CSS

An inline style may be used to apply a unique style for a single element.

To use inline styles, add the style attribute to the relevant element. The style attribute can contain any CSS property.

This is a heading

This is a paragraph.

Example 4: Multiple Style Sheets

If some properties have been defined for the same selector (element) in different style sheets, the value from the last read style sheet will be used.

Assume that an external style sheet has the following style for the <h1> element:

h1 {
  color: navy;
}

Then, assume that an internal style sheet also has the following style for the <h1> element:

h1 {
  color: orange;
}

If the internal style is defined after the link to the external style sheet, the <h1> elements will be "orange".

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
<style>
body {background-color: linen;}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>