What does !important mean in CSS?

Answer: Cascading Style Sheets cascade. This means that the styles are applied in order as they are read by the browser. The first style is applied and then the second and so on. What this means is that if a style appears at the top of a style sheet and then is changed lower down in the document, the second instance of that style will be the one applied, not the first. For example, in the following style sheet, the paragraph text will be black, even though the first style property applied is red:

p { color: #ff0000; }
 p { color: #000000; }

The !important rule is a way to make your CSS cascade but also have the rules you feel are most crucial always be applied. A rule that has the !important property will always be applied no matter where that rule appears in the CSS document. So if you wanted to make sure that a property always applied, you would add the !important property to the tag. So, to make the paragraph text always red, in the above example, you would write:

p { color: #ff0000 !important; }
 p { color: #000000; }

User Style Sheets

However, the !important rule was also put in place to help Web page users cope with style sheets that might make pages difficult for them to use or read. Typically, if a user defines a style sheet to view Web pages with, that style sheet will be over-ruled by the Web page author's style sheet. But if the user marks a style as !important, that style will overrule the Web page author's style sheet, even if the author marks their rule as !important.
This is a change from CSS1 to CSS2. In CSS1, author !important rules took precedence over user !important rules. CSS2 changed this to make the user's style sheet have precedence.

Dell Streak

Dell Streak

We fit the whole world into a 5-inch screen Introducing the Dell Streak. The perfectly-sized, go-anywhere entertainment, social connection and navigation device. Widescreen display optimally designed for mobile web, video and movies Integrated social networking widgets and apps, plus tons of apps through the Android Marketplace Crystal-clear damage-resistant Gorilla®  glass screen Google MapsTM  with navigation and text-to-voice Multitasking Google Android OS that give you the freedom to do what you want Free upgrade to Android 2.2 (Froyo) coming soon To know where you can buy Streak, please call 1800-425-4050 (Toll Free, from BSNL/MTNL landlines) or 080-25108049 (standard charges apply) __USERID__ http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/mobile-streak?ref=hbn&c=in&l=en&s=dhs&cs=indhs1 www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/ReviewsSubmit.aspx/mobile-streak?ref=hbn&c=in&l=en&s=dhs&cs=indhs1 The perfectly sized, go-anywhere device Watch, listen, play and connect with a 5" high-quality screen that fits perfectly in your hands. Now that's entertainment. Take good times with you, wherever you go. A brilliant 5" screen lets you surf, watch videos and stay connected*, with less squinting and pinching, plus front-and-back cameras capture photos and videos on the fly with 5MP* resolution. Watch streaming video on YouTubeTM , then post your own movies directly from your Streak. With compact 6" wide x 3.1" high x .4" thin dimensions, there's plenty of space to take full advantage of the multi-touch display, plus the high-quality scratch-resistant Gorilla®  glass means your view stays crystal clear. Ultra-intelligent facial proximity and ambient light sensors automatically adjust screen brightness, optimizing your battery life. Think fast. Play faster. The Dell Streak ensures that you can multitask and play without delay (including music and games), with the powerful yet efficient 1GHz Qualcomm SnapdragonTM processor speeding things along using Google's Android-based OS with multi-touch Dell user experience. 3G mobile broadband, WiFi and Bluetooth®  mean you've always got an easy way to connect, while swappable microSD memory cards mean virtually limitless storage for movies, music and pictures. The road awaits. Where are you headed today? Find the quickest route with real-time maps from integrated A-GPS and e-compass functionality. Text-to-voice direction let you keep your eyes on the road, while Google Maps' live traffic functionality helps you avoid those dreaded red zones (requires 3G connection). The best part: The Streak multitasks, so you can play your favorite driving tunes and receive calls at the same time. Get face time, any time. Facebook® , TwitterTM , Gmail, a phone call — however you like to stay connected*, the Streak keeps the lines of communication open. The Streak is a full-function 3G phone with IM and SMS/text capabilities, plus you can take photos for sharing using the rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash. Integrated real-time Facebook and Flickr®  upload abilities put your photo or video online in no time.

Ajax Talk at .NET Developers Association

Thanks everyone who came to my Ajax talk tonight at the .NET Developers Association! The slides and demos from the talk can be downloaded by clicking the following link:

• ASP.NET Ajax: What’s New? 

You need Visual Studio  2010 to view the code samples. The first project, named Demos, contains the following samples:

• ASPAjax4
  • 1_CompositeScripts.aspx – Demonstrates how to use the ScriptManger to combine, compress, and cache JavaScript files automatically.
  • 2_EnableCdn.aspx – Demonstrates how to retrieve ASP.NET Ajax framework scripts from the Microsoft Ajax CDN automatically.
• jQuery
  • 1_Selectors.aspx – Demonstrates how to use jQuery selectors
  • 2_WebForms.aspx – Demonstrates how to use the client tablesorter plugin with ASP.NET Web Forms.
  • 3_MVC.aspx – Demonstrates how to use jQuery animation and the templating plugin with ASP.NET MVC.
  • 4_OData.aspx – Demonstrates how to use jQuery with the Netflix API by using JSONP and odata.
  • 5_Templating.aspx – Demonstrates how to use jQuery client templating.
  • 6_TemplateConditionals.aspx – Demonstrates how to use logic within a jQuery template.
  • 7_DataLinking.aspx – Demonstrates how to perform data-binding in jQuery.
  • 8_Converters.aspx – Demonstrates how to defines converters that work with data-binding.

The second project, named ACT_Tools, illustrates how to use the Microsoft Ajax Minifier and the JSBuild JavaScript preprocessor. When you perform a build in Visual Studio, all JavaScript and CSS files are minified automatically. Furthermore, any *.pre.js file is processed using the JSBuild preprocessor and the output is saved to the ScriptOutput folder. Select Show All Files in Visual Studio to see the generated results of the minifier and the preprocessor.

jQuery UI on the Microsoft CDN

The jQuery UI team just added jQuery UI to the Microsoft Ajax Content Delivery Network (CDN). Thanks to them, you can start using jQuery UI in your ASP.NET websites by linking to jQuery UI at the following address:

http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.ui/1.8.5/jquery-ui.js

You can start using the CDN now for free. No registration is required.
Using jQuery UI from the CDN can substantially improve the performance of your production ASP.NET websites. The Microsoft CDN is composed of servers distributed around the world. When users request a page from your website, the users can retrieve jQuery UI from a server located geographically close to them.
In addition, because browsers cache JavaScript files relative to a domain, serving jQuery UI from a CDN enables your website users to avoid downloading jQuery UI when visiting multiple websites. If you visit two websites that both use jQuery UI from the Microsoft CDN then the jQuery UI library only needs to be downloaded once.
Learn more about the Microsoft Ajax CDN by visiting the following website:

http://www.asp.net/ajaxlibrary/cdn.ashx

This website is being updated with the location of all of the jQuery UI library files.

Using the jQuery UI Datapicker from the Microsoft Ajax CDN

The jQuery UI Datepicker (http://jqueryui.com/demos/datepicker/) enables you to easily display a pop-up calendar. Here’s a complete code sample of using this plugin:
Listing 1 – Using the jQuery UI Datepicker

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head id="Head1" runat="server">     <title>jQuery UI from Microsoft Ajax CDNtitle>     <link type="text/css" rel="Stylesheet" href="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.ui/1.8.5/themes/redmond/jquery-ui.css" /> head> <body>     <form id="form1" runat="server">     <div>               <input id="startDate" />        div>     form>     <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery/jquery-1.4.2.js">script>     <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.ui/1.8.5/jquery-ui.js">script>     <script type="text/javascript">         $("#startDate").datepicker();        script> body> html>

When you open this page, and click (or tab) inside the input field, you get a popup calendar:

Notice that the page above includes the following link to a jQuery UI theme:

All of the standard jQuery UI themes are hosted on the Microsoft Ajax CDN. I am using the standard jQuery UI Redmond theme – naturally :).

Additional jQuery Plugins on the CDN

We are inviting the authors of the top jQuery plugins to add their plugins to the CDN. Pay attention to this blog over the next few months to learn about the new jQuery plugins added to the CDN.
I’m super excited about having jQuery UI on the Microsoft CDN. Having jQuery UI on the CDN will make it easier for ASP.NET developers to build ASP.NET applications that support rich and interactive user interfaces.