STANDARD FORMAT prop-name: propVal; This is how jQuery would persist if you did $(x).css("propName", "propVal"); I believe that no style values are free-form. Even list-style-image values require format 'url("x")'. If you supply an unsupported value then it is silently not persisted. Valid names. _* and -* are reserved for browsers, etc. [a-z][\L_][-_\d\L] (where \L is my stipulated "letter" character class) * VERY IMPORTANT! * Make sure to use following tag before testing anything with CSS, because this has critical behavioral impact to everthing discussed in this file: Last of multiple rules of equivalent weight wins. DEFAULT FOND SIZE IS SERIF 16px. GOTCHA: If you switch to sans-serif, you must switch font-size to 13px or 82% to match this. This is not a precise match, because it should be about 13.1 and the sans fonts are much thinner (opaque area proportion).