CSS Conventions / Code Layout Models [closed]

Question

Has there been any attempt and creating a formalized method for organizing CSS code? Before I go and make up my own strategy for keeping things readable, I'm wondering what else is out there. Google hasn't been very helpful, as I'm not entirely sure what terms to search for.

I'm thinking more along the lines of indenting/spacing, when to use new lines, naming conventions, etc.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Natalie Down of ClearLeft fame produced a really great slide show covering this topic and more http://natbat.net/2008/Sep/28/css-systems/

Download the PDF as it includes a lot more information than the slide show. I'd recommend this to CSS devs of all skill levels.

Answer 2

This is all very subjective as per the usual code formatting debates and I do not know of any formalized conventions.

The method I've chosen is to use all lowercase classes and ids with underscores separating words (#page_container for example). I declare all my tag styles first (html, body, ul, etc.), then all classes and ids, sorted alphabetically. Additionally, all the styles defined in each class, id, or tag are defined alphabetically as well. Using this convention makes it easier to track down a particular style.

For formatting, I always compress it as small as possible, but still legible. I put everything on one line with appropriate white space. If you have Visual Studio, you can specify this format and have it automatically formatted this way for you (Set Style to Compact rules under Tools, Options, Text Editor, CSS, Format).

Naming conventions are extremely subjective here, but the thing to keep in mind is to name your elements as their intended purpose, not their styled meaning. For example, if you have a company slogan you want to style in a large, red font name the id #slogan instead of #red_bold.

Here's a full example to give you an idea:

body { background-color: #fff; color: #999; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 76%; padding: 0; margin: 0; } a { color: #2c5eb4; text-decoration: none; } a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { color: #f70; font-family: helvetica, verdana, arial, serif; font-weight: bold; margin: 1.2em 0; } h1 { font-size: 2.4em; line-height: 1.2em;  margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: 0em; } h2 { font-size: 1.7em; } h3 { font-size: 1.4em; } h4 { font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; } h5 { font-size: 1.0em; font-weight: bold; } h6 { font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; } img { border: 0; } li, ol, ul { font-size: 1.0em; line-height: 1.8em; list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 0; margin-top: 0.2em; } #content { clear: both; margin: 0; margin-top: -4em; } #columns { height: 36em; } #column1, #column2, #column3, #column4 { border-right: 1px solid #dbdbdb; float: left; width: 18%; margin: 0 0.5em; padding: 0 1em; height: 100%; } #column1 { width: 28%; } #column1 input { float: right; } #column1 label { color: #999; float: left; } #column2 a, #column3 a { font-weight: bold; } #column4 { border-right: 0; } #form { margin: 0 2em; } .help_button { float: right; text-align: right; width: 30px; }