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CSS CSS Basics (2014) Getting Started with CSS Importing Style Sheets with @import

Andre Kucharzyk
Andre Kucharzyk
4,479 Points
Posted by Andre Kucharzyk
Andre Kucharzyk
4,479 Points

I really dont get what is the difference between link and import. Could anybody try explaining it to me?

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2 Answers

Flor Antara
Flor Antara
12,372 Points
Flor Antara
Flor Antara
12,372 Points

Hi Andre,

Adding to Daniel's answer, take a look at the answer from this question where I explain the performance point. https://teamtreehouse.com/community/regarding-import-for-font-style

Long story short:

  • <link> is what you use to include stylesheets from an HTML file.
  • @import is what you use to do the same from a CSS file. (A CSS file inside another, yes!)
  • <link> is better for performance since it adds the resource to a parallel download queue without blocking the rendering of the page.
Daniel Jaquez
Daniel Jaquez
2,430 Points
Daniel Jaquez
Daniel Jaquez
2,430 Points

Thought to share an answer to a similar question posted on a different forum that i believe really answered the question as I understood it:

In theory, the only difference between them is that @import is the CSS mechanism to include a style sheet and <link> the HTML mechanism. However, browsers handle them differently, giving <link> a clear advantage in terms of performance.

Steve Souders wrote an extensive blog post comparing the impact of both <link> and @import (and all sorts of combinations of them) called "don’t use @import". That title pretty much speaks for itself.