Internal or External CSS file?

[WSM2006]

Just wondering what the best practice is on including CSS directly within a page versus linking to an external CSS file. Thoughts?

[Chris]

Generally you'll want to do it externally, for easier maintenance.

[Cutter]

Definately external, easier maintenance & better on the bandwidth.

[deronsizemore]

Definately external, easier maintenance & better on the bandwidth.

Exactly.

[Masetek]

Not only that if its external the SE spiders don't have to crawl thru it

[etech-martin]

I would suggest to use external CSS styles for the web designing. You can quickly change the look of your entire web site by changing one file with an external style sheet. It is the most effective and maintenance free for the end user. I think an internal style sheet should be used when a single web page has a unique style within the total site. :)

[James]

If you use internal, I will throw tomatoes at you.

[WSM2006]

I'll dodge the tomatoes, good advice everybody - especially the "spider crawling" and the easier modifications - thanks!

[James]

It'll also lower the size of your pages; CSS files are cache'd.