There's a widely held belief in web circles that the separation of content from presentation is the HolyGrail in the goal of reusable content.
HyperTextMarkupLanguage (HTML) was originally not a presentational language, but BrowserWars changed that. You got elements such as <font>, <b>, and <i> which had no meaning beyond the description of how to present content within the element.
This resulted in bloated, less efficient content authoring, and much whining from geeks like me (JeremyDunck).
CascadingStyleSheets (CSS) was designed to be better at accomplishing presentation of content than HTML alone could allow.
CSS is a Good Thing. It is a huge step towards content in the form of HTML, and presentation in some other format. This lets the HTML content be repurposed, to a limited extent.
For example, a good bit of the presentation that can be changed just by changing CSS, and leaving the HTML the same.
Even so, there's been a HolyWar in CSS circles as to the extent that this grail of separation should be pursued. The fact is that not every kind of presentational tweak and trick can be done by CSS alone, and that often results in people changing HTML to help the CSS tweak along.
What is the pragmatic idealist to do? Which side of the war are you on?
The [W3C] recognizes that CSS can't completely manage the task of separation, and that's why there's ExtensibleStylesheetLanguageTransform (XSLT), and ExtensibleStylesheetLanguage (XSL).
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IMHO, there's no sense having a HolyWar over this topic, as true separation can not be accomplished using only HTML and CSS anyway. For example, who says that the source format of content is actually HTML? Even putting content into HTML format may be a concession to presentation. --JeremyDunck
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<p "my2cent$">I think HTML 2.0 had a breakthrough, and was the most powerful language of internet markup, and can still be used today. If you like fancy shmancy positioning, borders, transparency, and all that CSbS? stuff then go ahead and add some <style/> to your web document. I prefer <font> and <table> stuff way more betterER. Only thing about using HTML2.0, the ol' W3C doesn't "validate" it! (bleep bleep)</p><space>--<space>MattCoops@cupan82.com<space><space>Jan 02, 2009.