This page is a demonstration of the elements that can be formatted using Simple.css. Each section includes a code block on how to include it in your site’s design.

This may be a little basic for some people, but I wanted the barrier for entry to be as low as possible for this project.

Basic Typography

All the typography of Simple.css uses rem for sizing. This means that accessibility is maintained for those who change their browser font size. The body element has a size of 1.15rem which makes all the standard font sizes slightly larger. This equates to 18.4px for paragraph text, instead of the standard 16px.

The heading elements also have an increased top margin in order to break blocks of text up better.

Heading 1 `2.8rem`

Heading 2 `2.25rem`

Heading 3 `1.8rem`

Heading 4 `1.44rem`

Heading 5 `1.15rem`

Heading 6 `.92rem`

<h2>This is a H2 header<h2>

<p>This is some paragraph text.</p>

Links & Buttons

Links are formatted very simply on Simple.css (shock horror). They use the accent CSS variable and are underlined. There is a :hover effect that removes the underline. Here is an example link.

Buttons use the same accent CSS variable for their colour. When hovering, there is an opacity effect.

<a href="https://example.com">This is a hyperlink</a>

<button>I'm a button</button>

<button onclick="window.location.href='https://example.com';">I'm a button with a link</button>

Other typography elements

There are a number of other typography elements that you can use with Simple.css. Some of the common ones are:

All the standard stuff, like bold, italic and underlined text.
Highlighting text using the mark element.
Adding inline code using the code element.
Displaying keyboard commands like ALT+F4 using the kbd element.

<b>Bold text</b>
<i>Italic text</i>
<u>Underlined text</u>
<mark>Highlighted text</mark>
<code>Inline code</code>
<kbd>Alt+F4</kbd>

Lists

We all love a good list, right? I know my wife does!

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Do this thing
Do that thing
Do the other thing

# Bulleted list
<ul>
  <li>Item 1</li>
  <li>Item 2</li>
  <li>Item 3</li>
</ul>

# Numbered list
<ol>
  <li>Do this thing</li>
  <li>Do that thing</li>
  <li>Do the other thing</li>
</ol>

Blockquotes

Sometimes you may want to quote someone else in your HTML. For this we use the blockquote element. Here’s what a quote looks like with Simple.css:

Friends don’t spy; true friendship is about privacy, too.

– Stephen King

<blockquote>
  <p>Friends don’t spy; true friendship is about privacy, too.</p>
  <p><cite>– Stephen King</cite></p>
</blockquote>

Code blocks

Code blocks are different from the inline code element. Code blocks are used when you want to display a block of code, like this:

body {
  color: var(--text);
  background: var(--bg);
  font-size: 1.15rem;
  line-height: 1.5;
  margin: 0;
}

<pre>
<code>
  body {
    color: var(--text);
    background: var(--bg);
    font-size: 1.15rem;
    line-height: 1.5;
    margin: 0;
  }
</code>
</pre>

The nav menu is deliberately designed to be extremely simple so that you can improve on it as you see fit. Or, just leave it as is to have a good looking, functional navigation menu.

There’s no JavaScript or checkbox CSS hacks here. It’s just a collection of simple “buttons” that wrap to the given width of the page:

To add a nav menu, just add the following to the <header> section of your site:

<nav>
  <a href="/">Home</a>
  <a href="/about">About</a>
  <a href="/blog">Blog</a>
  <a href="/notes">Notes</a>
  <a href="/guestbook">Guestbook</a>
  <a href="/contact">Contact</a>
</nav>

Images

In Simple.css, images within the main element are always full width and have rounded edges to them. The figcaption element is also formatted in Simple.css. Here are examples of images with and without a caption:

A dog at an iPad

# Standard image
<img alt="A dog on an iPad" src="/assets/images/dog-ipad.jpg" />

# Image with a caption
<figure>
  <img alt="This is a black swan" src="/assets/images/goose.jpg" />
  <figcaption>This is a black swan</figcaption>
</figure>

Accordions

Accordions are cool to play with. They’re especially useful when it comes to things like FAQ pages. Many people invoke JavaScript, or div for life when they use accordions. I don’t really understand why that is when it’s available in plain old HTML:

Spoiler alert!

You smell. 🙂

<details>
  <summary>Spoiler alert!</summary>
  <p>You smell. 🙂</p>
</details>

Tables

Like lists, sometimes you may need to add a table to your webpage. In Simple.css tables automatically highlight every other row to make reading easier. Table header text is also bold. Here’s what they look like:

Name	Number
Jackie	012345
Lucy	112346
David	493029
Kerry	395499
Steve	002458

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Number</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Jackie</td>
      <td>012345</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Lucy</td>
      <td>112346</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>David</td>
      <td>493029</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Kerry</td>
      <td>395499</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Steve</td>
      <td>002458</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Forms

Forms are useful for all kinds of things on webpages. Contact forms, newsletter sign ups etc. Forms also look pretty good on Simple.css:

<form>
  <p><strong>This is just a test form. It doesn't do anything.</strong></p>

  <p><select>
    <option selected="selected" value="1">Title</option>
    <option value="2">Mr</option>
    <option value="3">Miss</option>
    <option value="4">Mrs</option>
    <option value="5">Other</option>
  </select></p>

  <p>
  <label>First name</label><br>
  <input type="text" name="first_name">
  </p>

  <p>
  <label>Surname</label><br>
  <input type="text" name="surname">
  </p>

  <p>
  <label>Email</label><br>
  <input type="email" name="email" required="">
  </p>

  <p>
  <label>Enquiry type:</label><br>
  <label><input checked="checked" name="type" type="radio" value="sales" /> Sales</label> <br />
  <label><input name="type" type="radio" value="support" /> Support</label> <br />
  <label><input name="type" type="radio" value="billing" /> Billing</label>
  </p>

  <p>
  <label>Message</label><br>
  <textarea rows="6"></textarea>
  </p>

  <p>
  <label>
  <input type="checkbox" id="checkbox" value="terms">
  I agree to the <a href="#">terms and conditions</a>
  </label>
  </p>

  <button>Send</button>
  <button type="reset">Reset</button>
  <button disabled="disabled">Disabled</button>
</form>

Basic Typography

Heading 1 2.8rem

Heading 2 2.25rem

Heading 3 1.8rem

Heading 4 1.44rem

Heading 5 1.15rem

Heading 6 .92rem