What is the primary role of CSS in web development?

The primary role of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in web development is to control the layout and appearance of web pages. CSS provides a powerful way to apply styles, such as colors, fonts, spacing, and positioning, which enhances the visual presentation of HTML content. By separating the content (HTML) from the design (CSS), developers can create visually appealing and consistent interfaces across different devices and screen sizes.

CSS allows for the flexibility to define how elements are displayed, enabling responsive design techniques that cater to various viewing environments. This functionality is vital for improving user experience and ensuring that web applications are both accessible and aesthetically pleasing.

While structuring the content of a website, managing server communications, and creating database connections are important aspects of web development, they are primarily handled by HTML, server-side languages, and database management systems, respectively, rather than CSS.