Update the CSS of a Website without refreshing the Page

Question

Here you are: http://cssrefresh.frebsite.nl/

CSSrefresh is a small, unobstructive javascript file that monitors the CSS-files included in your webpage. As soon as you save a CSS-file, the changes are directly implemented, without having to refresh your browser.

Just insert the javascript file and it works!

But note: It only works when you have the files on a server!

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Edit: LiveStyle

If you develop with Sublime Text and Google Chrome or Apple Safari, then you should use Emmet LiveStyle. This is a more powerful Live CSS-Reloader.
Now I use it instead of CSS Refresh.

If you want more information about this awesome plugin, please read the Post by Smashing Magazine

With jQuery you can create a function that reloads external stylesheets.

/**
 * Forces a reload of all stylesheets by appending a unique query string
 * to each stylesheet URL.
 */
function reloadStylesheets() {
    var queryString = '?reload=' + new Date().getTime();
    $('link[rel="stylesheet"]').each(function () {
        this.href = this.href.replace(/\?.*|$/, queryString);
    });
}

Have a look at http://livereload.com/.

It works as a browser plugin for OS X and windows. I like it because I do not have to embed additional javascript which I could accidentally commit in my versioning control.

I find browser plugins/extensions to be the easiest solution. They don't require any code changes to your individual sites. And they can be used for any site on the web — which is useful if I modify something in-memory real quick to hide a toolbar or fix a bug temporarily; once finished mucking with it, I can press a key and all the CSS is back to normal.

Once installed, (most) CSS reloaded plugins/extensions don't reload the CSS automatically. But usually work with something as simple as a toolbar button, a context menu item, and/or a simple key press to reload the CSS. I find this method is less error prone anyway, and is much less complicated then some of the automated solutions out there.

Some examples (feel free to suggest some others):

Chrome:

• tin.cr (includes automatic reload, and can persist in-browser changes to source files)
• CSS Refresh

Firefox:

• CSS Reloaded
• CSS Refresh