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CSS CSS Basics (2014) Getting Started with CSS External Style Sheets

Posted by ealmgren
ealmgren
7,616 Points

Why does treehouse supply in this course "import-style.css" and in the "how to build a website" course "normalize.css"?

How does this help with learning? It seems like you set up the style building foundation for us. When I build my own website will having my own style.css be enough? And if you recommend having a normalize/import-css file, what are the specifications for building one that I use as a base for all my projects. It doesn't seem right to import treehouse's normalize/import-css file to my own personal projects.

2 Answers

Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
STAFF
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Hi there! I believe the import-style.css you're looking at was created by Treehouse just to give a starting point for the custom CSS you'll be adding. Normalize.css, however, is a fairly common thing to use. In fact, some really big sites (Twitter among others) use normalize.css.

All browser (and indeed different versions of the same browser) have default paddings, margins, font-sizes etc. The purpose of normalize.css is to make all these defaults the same across browsers. This has the benefit of giving you a "blank canvas" to work with. It helps to ensure that your website looks the same on this particular update of Chrome (for example) as it does on a previous version of Chrome.

You can find the current version of normalize.css repository here. Also, take a look at the bottom of the page for more big sites that use normalize.css. This is free to use for everyone!

Hope this helps! :sparkles:

mk37
mk37
10,271 Points

hey jennifer. i know this might be a silly question at this point and probably really simple, but how did you create a link in your comment and type "here"? thanks

Darrell Osborne
Darrell Osborne
23,146 Points
Darrell Osborne
Darrell Osborne
23,146 Points

There are a couple of different "free to use" css files that authors make available for anyone to use. The "normalize.css" being one of the most popular. If you wanted to create your own, you can certainly do that. However, you will most likely find yourself setting some of the same rules that are already being set (reset) in the free to use "normalize" file.