Enduring CSS
Enduring CSS
Architect and maintain large-scale CSS codebases
About the Book
This is a book to deal with writing CSS for large-scale, rapidly changing web projects and applications.
This isn't actually a book about writing CSS, as in the stuff inside the curly braces. It's a book about the organisation and architecture of CSS; the parts outside the braces. It's the considerations that can be happily ignored on smaller projects but actually become the most difficult part of writing CSS in larger projects.
Here are some of the topics covered in the book:
- The problems of CSS at scale: specificity, the cascade and styles intrinsically tied to element structure.
- The shortfalls of conventional approaches to scaling CSS.
- The ECSS methodology and the problems it solves.
- How to develop consistent and enforceable selector naming conventions with ECSS.
- How to organise project structure to more easily isolate and decouple visual components.
- How to handle state changes in the DOM with ARIA or override selectors.
- How to apply ECSS to web applications and visual modules.
- Considerations of CSS tooling and processing: Sass/PostCSS and linting.
- Addressing the practicalities of using potentially problematic HTML elements.
- Addressing the notion of CSS selector speed with hard data and browser representative insight.
About the Author
Bundles that include this book
Reader Testimonials
Jose Menor
Front-end developer
Are you dealing with css in a big app? Do yourself a favour and buy Enduring CSS
Dan Gamble
Lead Front-end Developer
Having bought ECSS just over a year ago I've used it in every project, no matter how big or small. It's greatly improved the productivity of myself and the team I've implemented it with. It has also been very easy to onboard everyone with.
Table of Contents
- About the author
- Thanks
- Preface
-
Chapter 1. Enduring CSS
- Introduction
- Defining the problem
- Solve your own problems
-
Chapter 2. The problems of CSS at scale
- Specificity
- Markup structure tied to selectors
- The cascade
- Summary
-
Chapter 3. Implementing received wisdom
- On OOCSS
- SMACSS
- BEM
- Summary
-
Chapter 4. Introducing the ECSS methodology
- Defining terminology
- The problems ECSS solves
- Embracing Repetition
- Summary
-
Chapter 5. File organisation and naming conventions
- Project organisation
- Naming classes and selectors with ECSS
- Summary
-
Chapter 6. Dealing with state changes in ECSS
- How ECSS used to handle state change
- Switching to WAI-ARIA
- ARIA attributes as CSS selectors
- Summary
-
Chapter 7. Applying ECSS to your web site or application
- Applying ECSS to logic modules
- Applying ECSS to visual modules
- Organising Modules, their Components and naming files
- Working with generated content from a CMS
- ECSS and global styles
- Summary
-
Chapter 8. The Ten Commandments of Sane Style Sheets
- Why the ten commandments?
- 1. Thou shalt have a single source of truth for all key selectors
- 2. Thou shalt not nest, unless thou art nesting media queries or overrides
- 3. Thou shalt not use ID selectors, even if thou thinkest thou hast to
- 4. Thou shalt not write vendor prefixes in the authoring style sheets
- 5. Thou shalt use variables for sizing, colours and z-index
- 6. Thou shalt always write rules mobile first (avoid max-width)
- 7. Use mixins sparingly (and avoid @extend)
- 8. Thou shalt comment all magic numbers and browser hacks
- 9. Thou shalt not place inline images in the authoring style sheets
- 10. Thou shalt not write complicated CSS when simple CSS will work just as well
- Summary
-
Chapter 9. Tooling for an ECSS approach
- CSS requisites for CSS processors
- Building CSS from authoring style sheets
- Optimisation
- Summary
-
The closing curly brace
- Resources
-
Appendix 1: CSS selector performance
- Testing selector speed
- Good CSS architecture practices
- What difference does style bloat make?
- Performance inside the brackets
- Summary
-
Appendix 2: Browser representatives on CSS performance
- TL;DR
- Browser representatives on CSS performance
- Should we worry about CSS selectors?
- What about JavaScript
- Dealing with CSS performance
- Summary
Authors have earned$10,091,628writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
- #1
C++20
Rainer GrimmC++20 is the next big C++ standard after C++11. As C++11 did it, C++20 changes the way we program modern C++. This change is, in particular, due to the big four of C++20: ranges, coroutines, concepts, and modules.
The book is almost daily updated. These incremental updates ease my interaction with the proofreaders.
- #2
A Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Dr. Bertalan MeskoCan we stay human in the age of A.I.? To go even further, can we grow in humanity, can we shape a more humane, more equitable and sustainable healthcare? This e-book aims to prepare healthcare and medical professionals for the era of human-machine collaboration. Read our guide to understanding, anticipating and controlling artificial intelligence.
- #3
C++ Best Practices
Jason TurnerLevel up your C++, get the tools working for you, eliminate common problems, and move on to more exciting things!
- #4
Atomic Kotlin
Bruce Eckel and Svetlana IsakovaFor both beginning and experienced programmers! From the author of the multi-award-winning Thinking in C++ and Thinking in Java together with a member of the Kotlin language team comes a book that breaks the concepts into small, easy-to-digest "atoms," along with exercises supported by hints and solutions directly inside IntelliJ IDEA!
- #5
Sockets and Pipes
Type ClassesSockets and Pipes is not an introduction to Haskell; it is an introduction to writing software in Haskell. Using a handful of everyday Haskell libraries, this book walks through reading the HTTP specification and implementing it to create a web server.
- #6
Introducing EventStorming
Alberto BrandoliniThe deepest tutorial and explanation about EventStorming, straight from the inventor.
- #7
node-opcua by example
Etienne RossignonGet the best out of node-opcua through a set of documented examples by the author himself that will allow you to create stunning OPCUA Servers or Clients.
- #8
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
- #9
Functional Design and Architecture
Alexander GraninSoftware Design in Functional Programming, Design Patterns and Practices, Methodologies and Application Architectures. How to build real software in Haskell with less efforts and low risks. The first complete source of knowledge.
- #10
Composing Software
Eric ElliottAll software design is composition: the act of breaking complex problems down into smaller problems and composing those solutions. Most developers have a limited understanding of compositional techniques. It's time for that to change.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture for Developers: Volumes 1 & 2 - Technical leadership and communication
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #2
All the Books of The Medical Futurist
6 Books
We put together the most popular books from The Medical Futurist to provide a clear picture about the major trends shaping the future of medicine and healthcare. Digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of 20 medical specialties, big pharma, data privacy, digital health investments and how technology giants such as Amazon... - #3
PowerShell
3 Books
Buy every PowerShell book from Adam Bertram at a 20% discount! - #4
Cisco CCNA 200-301 Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du guide préparation à l'examen de certification Cisco CCNA 200-301. - #5
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité... - #6
Modern C++ by Nicolai Josuttis
2 Books
- #7
Django for Beginners/APIs/Professionals
3 Books
- #8
Learn Git, Bash, and Terraform the Hard Way
3 Books
Learn Git, Bash and Terraform using the Hard Way method.These technologies are essential tools in the DevOps armoury. These books walk you through their features and subtleties in a simple, gradual way that reinforces learning rather than baffling you with theory. - #9
Software Architecture and Beautiful APIs
2 Books
There is no better way to learn how to design good APIs than to look at many existing examples, complementing the Software Architecture theory on API design. - #10
Digital Future of Healthcare and Pharma
3 Books
These three popular e-books from The Medical Futurist describes how digital health technologies will shape the future of health, healthcare, medicine and pharma with exciting infographics in a digestible format.
