In these cynical, post-bubble times, most chief information officers are rightfully dismissive about new technologies that promise to boost efficiency or customer service...but once in a while the claims are very true. Stylesheets can make application development cheaper and faster while increasing customer satisfaction. They also allow your customers to take over subsequent application development work - paying the costs along the way.

In terms of costs and efficiency, application development may not seem like a problem zone. After all, the advent of the Web has already revolutionized the process. As the front end of most applications is a Web browser these days, it now may take only months, instead of quarters, to build an application. Once the back-end integration and logic are put into place, and the Web interface is built to satisfaction, presto - the application goes live. Typically only severe problems or a dramatic shift in a business model will cause a major rework.

But this approach doesn't allow for easy customization. Why does that matter? Say your company has an online catalog for industrial supplies, and the competition is coming on strong. How can you stay ahead of the pack? Consider your customer's experience. In order to research, purchase, and track a product shipment, your customer has to open up your catalog and those of all your competitors - each of which has its own Web interface with distinct navigation, flow, and security. That may not sound so cumbersome. But in many manufacturing supply applications, purchasers need to navigate through hundreds of parts and specifications.

If only your online catalog's interface could look just like your customer's own internal Web portal - with everything in the same place - you would save your customer time and irritation. The ease of using your catalog would separate you from your competitors and increase the likelihood of your customer buying from you.

But using the current Web model of development, it would be prohibitive to customize your catalog application for even your top customers. Building screens, customizing navigation, and setting up the security scheme would be a tremendous task. Imagine the cost of your own Web catalog application multiplied by your top 10 customers - hardly a healthy return on investment.

That's where stylesheets come in. Stylesheets are built using Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). They are the presentation component of the rapidly growing XML. Both XML and XSL are standards created by the WC3 - the same group that brought us HTML for the Web.

Simply put, XSL stylesheets customize the look of data described in XML. The key is that a single set of XML data can be presented in an infinite variety of ways using XSL, allowing a "faceless" XML application to take on any number of looks, depending on the stylesheet applied.

It is not a big adjustment to start employing stylesheets. You simply build your application using XML and then create a stylesheet that makes the application look like your current Web interface. So all you've done is replace an HTML- or Java-coded layout and navigation with something identical built with XML and your XSL stylesheet.

Then you just let your customers know that they can customize the way your online catalog works to make things easier for them. All they have to do is create a custom look-and-feel using an XSL stylesheet and send it to you. When you apply their stylesheet to your XML-based application, voilà - your application appears with their look. Customers start to specify how applications should look by building stylesheets and sending them to you - kind of like EDI, but for presentation.

Applications built this way are also tremendously flexible. A customer, mobilizing his or her workforce using wireless devices, could use a stylesheet that renders your application into the appropriate wireless presentation format, likely WML or XHTML. Web services? No problem. They're already XML-based and hold the potential for even tighter integration.

How will stylesheets save money and improve efficiency? Building customer-facing applications using XML costs less in the first place, since it is much more powerful and simpler than HTML and Java. Application changes and maintaining the information cost less, too, since XML uses templates instead of custom coding.

But the true leverage comes when you can give the same application different looks simply by changing a stylesheet or using a new one. This gives you flexibility that wouldn't otherwise have been affordable.

In addition, once customers are hooked on stylesheets (which they are very likely to be if you help them along on the first go-around) they will be taking on ongoing development work you might otherwise have had to do. Logic would also dictate that with your customer service measurably improved, your sales should also rise and outpace your competition.

Better customer service, greater flexibility, lower costs, and potentially higher sales: that's style with some real substance. It might be time to start asking customers to send you their stylesheets.