3. CSS syntax

First, use a DOCTYPE in your HTML. If you don't, most browsers revert to a non-standard backward-compatibility "quirks" mode.

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

Styles can be specified in 3 places HTML:

inline style: a list of properties in the "style" attribute of an individual HTML element
```
<a href="home.html" style="color: green;">
```
(This is generally the least useful/flexible way.)
internal style sheet: a set of rules in a <style> element
```
<style>a { color: green; }</style>
```
external style sheet: a set of rules in an external file named in a <link>
```
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/mystyle.css">
```
(This is generally the most useful/flexible way.)

Style sheet files can also import other style sheet files (but only before normal rules):

    @import "another.css";