Avoiding the Threat of Awful CSS

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Tim G. Thomas @timgthomas

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Senior Consultant @ Headspring (Work for us!)

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The Problem: Maintainability

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The Solution: Patterns!

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Developers! Developers! Developers! (Are Good at This)

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More Maintainable

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More Consistent

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Fewer Headaches

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But How?

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Two Steps

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Step 1: Layout First

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This is Easy*

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*Not Interesting (For This Talk)

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Step 2: Write Flexible CSS

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What makes CSS “"exible”?

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Flexible CSS is Purposeful

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Purpose: Site Branding

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Site Branding === “Global Styles”

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Global Styles use

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Global Styles button { background: #333; border: 1px solid #000; color: #fff; }

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Everything Else === “Component Styles”

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Component Styles use .classes

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Component Styles .contact-list { line-height: 2.0em; list-style: square; padding: 10px 20px 0; }

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SMACSS(.com)

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Global Styles => “Base Styles”

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Component Styles => “Layouts” and “Modules”

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Layouts are Big Page Parts

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No content

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Layouts in CSS .l-navigation { /* ... */ } .l-hero { /* ... */ } .l-featured { /* ... */ } .l-legal { /* ... */ }

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Layouts are Unique

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Modules are Smaller Parts

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No content

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Modules in CSS .featured-list { /* ... */ } .featured-list .title { /* ... */ } .featured-list .item { /* ... */ }

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Modules are Designed for Reuse

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Modules are Designed for Relocation

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Flexible Selectors

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Flexible Selectors are Short

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Flexible Selectors: Short header > h1 #main .date span > em { /* Yuck. */ } .meaningful { /* Yum! */ }

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Flexible Selectors use Elements (for Globals)

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Flexible Selectors: Elements nav { /* ... */ } button { /* ... */ } input { /* ... */ } aside { /* ... */ }

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Flexible Selectors use Classes (for everything else)

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Flexible Selectors: Classes .messages { /* ... */ } .contacts { /* ... */ } .tasks { /* ... */ }

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Flexible Selectors DO NOT use IDs

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Flexible Selectors: IDs #im-not-flexible { /* :-( */ } .im-flexible { /* :-) */ }

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Flexible Selectors aren’t Shared with JavaScript

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Flexible Selectors: JavaScript $(‘.doSomething’).fadeIn(); .lookLikeSomething { /* ... */ }

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Flexible CSS is Meaningfully Named

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Meaningful Names: What Stu# Is

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Meaningful Names: NOT What Stu# Looks Like

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NOT Meaningfully Named .lp10 { } .red { } .big-font { }

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Meaningfully Named .emphasized-list { } .featured-products { } button.primary { }

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Flexible CSS is Logically Grouped

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Flexible CSS is LOGICALLY Grouped

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Logical Groups .green-border { /* Boo! Hiss! */ border: 1px solid #0f0; } .user-selected { /* Yay! */ border: 1px solid #f0f; }

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Logical Groups Have a Single Reason to Change

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Logical Groups DO Reduce Duplication

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Logical Groups MAY Contain Duplicate Styles

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How to Fix Duplication:

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How to Fix Duplication: Preprocessors!

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Preprocessors are Transpilers

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Preprocessors Turn This… .cohesive-group-a { border: 1px solid #f0f; color: #00f; font: 1.2em/2.4em Comic Sans; } .cohesive-group-b { border: 1px solid #f0f; color: #f00; font: 1.2em/2.4em Comic Sans; }

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…Into This: .shared-styles { border: 1px solid #f0f; font: 1.2em/2.4em Comic Sans; } .cohesive-group-a { .shared-styles(); color: #00f; } .cohesive-group-b { .shared-styles(); color: #f00; }

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Other Cool Stu#: Vendor Pre$xes! .scale(scale-amount) { -webkit-transform: scale(scale-amount); -moz-transform: scale(scale-amount); -ms-transform: scale(scale-amount); -o-transform: scale(scale-amount); transform: scale(scale-amount); }

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Other Cool Stu#: Vendor Pre$xes! .foo { .scale(0.8); } .bar { .scale(0.4); }

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My Favorite: Nesting! .book-list { .cover { .title { } .author { } } }

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My Favorite: Nesting! .book-list .cover .title { } .book-list .cover .author { }