The script to read time and set CSS can be found in
http://demo.yootheme.com/dec08/templates/yoo_daylight/lib/js/template.js.php”
With this script they add a class to a tag.
So … instead of body, you get body. -> body.noon body.morning

With this, you can reduce the css files from 4 to 1… It also reduces the HTTP requests.

Definitely another good take on it, thanks for the input

#header {…} /*default header css*/
body.nighttime #header {…} /*used on top of the default – replace only the properties that need to change*/

Ive used a similar approach to allow switching site styles with javascript client-side (not really the problem described in the article, but similar). In that case I have a separate css file called styles.css that defines just the non-default modifications. This may not be a sensible move, but it made sense at the time, and is WIP.

Another possibility for cleaning up the printout:
//specify endtime of the period
$timeStyles = array(
05=>”nighttime.css”,
11=>”morning.css”,
18=>”midday.css”,
22=>”gettingdark.css”,
24=>”nighttime.css”);

//then print out the correct filename
foreach($timeStyles as $endHour=>$fileName) { if($thetime <= $endHour) { echo $fileName; break; } }

…I just knocked this up – dunno if it is cleaner, nicer, more sensible, or even works – just a random idea.

(also dunno of angle-brackets will be lost on posting…dont beat me if it looks weird )

I used multiple CSS files as potentially the entire layout could be changed rather than various elements on page, my example only shows one change as I felt designing 4 unique themes was a little OTT for a quick tutorial.

Thanks for the input

1 was to check for the other times and then just say else night time.

2. the point was to use to use the if to assign $TimeOfDay and then echo it in the image tag, therefore needing only one css file.

1. Your if statement can be shortened (perhaps you were just making it obvious what all the cases might be):

if($thetime > 05 AND $thetime 11 AND $thetime 18 AND $thetime < 23) { echo "gettingdark.css";} // between 7pm and 11pm
else { echo "nighttime.css";} // between midnight and 6am

2. Since 4 or more files are harder to maintain, it might be better to use one css file that uses a snippet of PHP to assign the image. Just change the if statement to assign a variable and then the img tag uses
src="”
and
title=”"