Support for Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1
in
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0,
Win32 version

Purpose

The information on this page is intended as reference material for persons authoring pages with Cascading Style Sheets with the intention of making them viewable in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. This page addresses the Windows 95/NT version of Internet Explorer. For similar information which addresses the Macintosh version, see Eric Meyer's page.

Notes on this revision

This is the first revision I've made to this page since I totally overhauled it with the new format. Here is a summary of the changes since the last revision:

• Section 3 ("The Cascade") has been expanded slightly.
• Section 5.1.1 (the font-family property) incorrectly stated that Internet Explorer does not support the generic family names cursive and fantasy. Internet Explorer does in fact support these.
• Section 5.1.1 (the font-family property) has been expanded slightly to further address parsing issues with alternate font lists.
• The description of Internet Explorer's problems with the background property and linked style sheets has been expanded.(5.2.7)
• Section 6.3 ("Color Units") incorrectly stated that Internet Explorer did not support the 3-digit hexadecimal format for specifying color. Internet Explorer does in fact support this.

This document attempts to reflect the state of the most recent release version of Internet Explorer, which, as of this revision, is version 3.02a. Its entire contents may not be applicable to previous versions of Internet Explorer 3.0.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to these persons for contributing ideas and information to this page.

• Daniel Greene
• Mike Kirby
• Dmitry Kirsanov
• Steve Knoblock
• Eric Meyer
• Carl Morris
• Liam Quinn
• Mike Stewart
• Craig Zacker

Contents

• 1 Basic concepts
• 2 Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements
• 3 The cascade
• 4 Formatting model
• 5 Properties
  • 5.1 Font properties
    • 5.1.1 font-family
    • 5.1.2 font-style
    • 5.1.3 font-variant
    • 5.1.4 font-weight
    • 5.1.5 font-size
    • 5.1.6 font
  • 5.2 Color and background properties
    • 5.2.1 color
    • 5.2.2 background-color
    • 5.2.3 background-image
    • 5.2.4 background-repeat
    • 5.2.5 background-attachment
    • 5.2.6 background-position
    • 5.2.7 background
  • 5.3 Text properties
    • 5.3.1 word-spacing
    • 5.3.2 letter-spacing
    • 5.3.3 text-decoration
    • 5.3.4 vertical-align
    • 5.3.5 text-transform
    • 5.3.6 text-align
    • 5.3.7 text-indent
    • 5.3.8 line-height
  • 5.4 Box properties
    • 5.4.1 margin-top
    • 5.4.2 margin-bottom
    • 5.4.3 margin-right
    • 5.4.4 margin-left
    • 5.4.5 margin
    • 5.4.6 padding-top
    • 5.4.7 padding-right
    • 5.4.8 padding-bottom
    • 5.4.9 padding-left
    • 5.4.10 padding
    • 5.4.11 border-top-width
    • 5.4.12 border-right-width
    • 5.4.13 border-bottom-width
    • 5.4.14 border-left-width
    • 5.4.15 border-width
    • 5.4.16 border-color
    • 5.4.17 border-style
    • 5.4.18 border-top
    • 5.4.19 border-right
    • 5.4.20 border-bottom
    • 5.4.21 border-left
    • 5.4.22 border
    • 5.4.23 width
    • 5.4.24 height
    • 5.4.25 float
    • 5.4.26 clear
  • 5.5 Classification properties
    • 5.5.1 display
    • 5.5.2 white-space
    • 5.5.3 list-style-type
    • 5.5.4 list-style-image
    • 5.5.5 list-style-position
    • 5.5.6 list-style
• 6 Units
  • 6.1 Length units
  • 6.2 Percentage units
  • 6.3 Color units
  • 6.4 URL

1 Basic concepts

• Class as a selector is supported.
• ID as a selector is not supported.
• Contextual selectors are supported.
• Internet Explorer does not apply styles to text marked by implied tags.

2 Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements

• Anchor pseudo-classes are supported.
• Typographical pseudo-elements are not supported.

3 The cascade

Lack of support for a number of CSS features limits the amount of "cascading" required of Internet Explorer.

• Importing style sheets with @import is not supported.
• The special attribute important is not supported.
• Internet Explorer has no documented means of specifying a user style sheet.

In addition to these deficiencies, Internet Explorer 3.0 seems altogether incapable of cascading. For instance, it will not combine (and duly cascade) styles included in either multiple STYLE blocks, or a combination of a linked style sheet and one or more STYLE blocks.

4 Formatting model

Internet Explorer 3.01 (and presumably any subsequent versions of Internet Explorer 3.0) uses a simplified version of the CSS1 formatting model which lacks borders and padding. Further departures from the CSS1 formatting model (as they relate to specific properties) are noted in sections 5.2.7, 5.3.8, and 5.4.5.

In versions of Internet Explorer 3.0 prior to version 3.01, margins are not inherited. In those versions, margins values are always interpreted relative to the canvas, and not relative to any margin for any parent element.

5 Properties

6 Units