CSS Refactoring

Preface

When I first started learning CSS, I found that getting to grips with the syntax (the set of rules and structures that comprise a programming language) was simple because there are rules that explain how the code should be written. However, I found it was much more difficult to learn how to keep my CSS organized and maintainable, and even more difficult to clean up the disorganized CSS I’d written without a clear vision. I wrote this book with the hope that I could help others by sharing everything I learned through trial and error; I wish this book had existed when I was just starting out.

Intended Audience

While I hope that anybody writing CSS will benefit from reading this book, it’s aimed primarily at people who have cobbled together a working user interface but lack either the experience or the vision to understand how their code fits together in the bigger picture. The intended reader understands how to write CSS syntax, but might not necessarily grasp why some things work the way they do. They might also not know how to better architect their code into a piece of software that is easier to maintain, extend, and collaborate on.

Objectives of This Book

My goal in writing this book is to make some of the subtler aspects of CSS more approachable to readers that are just starting out. I also aim to shed some light on why CSS can be difficult to write and test and why spending time refactoring CSS is a worthwhile endeavor.

Topics we’ll cover include:

• What refactoring ...