Inheriting CSS how do I stop it?

Question

I am new to CSS and I know what the problem I am having is but I can't figure out how to stop it.

I have an element with an id of footer, and another element inside that one with a class of socialmedia. I am using a sprite to handle the media icons. The problem I am having is that #footer ul li's padding (padding: 9px 0px 9px 13px) is being inherited by .socialmedia.

I have tried adding .socialmedia ul li {margin: 0px; padding: 0px;} to stop it and I have also added !Important but the padding still seems to get through.

I want to remove the left padding of 13px from the social media icons so they aren't so spaced. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong?

I have created a JFiddle if you want to see it live here: http://jsfiddle.net/2Nv59/3/

HTML:

<div id="footer">
        <ul>
    <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Company Overview</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Our Services</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Registration</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">News & Blog</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Links</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Contact us</a></li>
        </ul>

        <div class="FooterAddress"><strong>ABC Comp</strong><br>555 My Street.<br>Boonton, CA 07005<br>1 (800) 555-1111<br><br>

          <div class="socialmedia">
            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://facebook.com" title="Be our friend" target="_blank" class="facebook"></a></li>
                <li><a href="http://www.linkedin.com" title="Let's connect" target="_blank" class="linked"></a></li>
                <li><a href="http://www.twitter.com" title="Follow us!" target="_blank" class="twitter"></a></li>
            </ul>
          </div>

       </div>


    </div>

CSS:

/* Footer */

#footer {background-color: #3B3014; height: 150px; margin-top: 10px;}
#footer ul {padding: 0px; margin: 0px;}
#footer ul li{display: inline-block; padding: 9px 0px 9px 13px;}
#footer ul li a {text-decoration: none; color: #fff; font-weight: bold;font-size: 11px;}
#footer ul li a:hover {text-decoration: none; color: #FF6600; font-weight: bold;}
.FooterAddress {float: right; color: #FFC50B; font-size: 11px; margin-right: 13px; margin-top:-20px; text-align:right;}
.developedby {float: left; color: #fff; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 13px; margin-top: 94px;}
.developedby a {color: #FFC50B; text-decoration:none;}
.developedby a:hover {color: #CCC;cursor:hand;}

/* Soecial Media Sprites */
.nopadding {padding: 0px;float: right; color: #fff; background: #000;}
.socialmedia ul li {margin: 0px; padding: 0px;}
.socialmedia ul li a {display: block; width: 26px; height: 27px; background: url(../images/socialmedia_sprite_sm.png) no-repeat; padding: 0px;}
.socialmedia ul li:last-child {margin-right: 0;}

.socialmedia a.facebook {background-position: -27px -27px;}
.socialmedia a.facebook:hover {background-position: -27px 0;}
.socialmedia a.linked {background-position: -52px -27px;}
.socialmedia a.linked:hover {background-position: -52px 0;}
.socialmedia a.twitter {background-position: left bottom;}
.socialmedia a.twitter:hover {background-position: left top;}

Answer 1

Just get more specific.

Change:

.socialmedia ul li {margin: 0px; padding: 0px;}

to

#footer .socialmedia ul li {margin: 0px; padding: 0px;}

jsFiddle example

You had the right idea but the #footer ul li rule is more specific, so it's CSS was overriding your other rule. You can learn more about CSS specificity at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Specificity

Answer 2

try adding #footer .socialmedia ul li {margin: 0px; padding: 0px;} to override css rules in children elements your css selector should be more specific than the one you are trying to override.