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Add Your Own Sense Of Style To Google Docs

If you're a total control freak and want things to look exactly so, the newest feature in Google Docs is for you. You can now edit your own custom styles within Google Docs and dress your Docs up however you wish. Even if you have no sense of style.

I were to somehow emulate my own personal dress code within Google Docs, it probably wouldn't work out so well. Old jeans and concert T-shirts from yesteryear don't make for a very professional-looking document, even if that's what I wear when I write most of them. If I added the soundtrack that accompanies me during most of my writing sessions, well, let's just say there might be screaming involved.

But don't let that stop you from checking out this new feature in Google Docs. Google recently enabled custom styles through an "Edit CSS" function.

Yeah, I didn't know what CSS means, either. Thankfully, Google explains further, "CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. In essence, CSS is a type of style sheet markup language which enables you to create a personalized look for your Web page or documents. For example, using this markup language, you have control over font type, colors, and sizes. CSS's most common use is to style HTML for Web pages. How is CSS different than HTML? HTML is a markup language that focuses on document content; CSS focuses on document presentation."

Google provides some basic examples of some styles and how to make them a reality here.

Right now, there are a few limitations. Edit CSS is not supported offline (with Gears) yet. Images (specified through styles) are not propagated through Export as PDF/Print yet. In this initial launch of CSS, Google won't be allowing external image URLs to be used with CSS in Docs. However, you can still utilize images by uploading them and using the Docs image URL instead.

So have it. Make your Google Docs your own.

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