Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used to manage how a website looks. Someone who knows how to use CSS can take a basic website and completely customize it. For example, with CSS, a user can change the background of the website, edit the font, set how something from the page is printed and more. Even if someone builds a website from a template, as long as he has access to the root directory of the site, he can modify the CSS. If someone wants to learn computer programming languages like CSS, it can be a little daunting at first, but there are some tips to make managing CSS easier. Here are five tips for easy CSS Management you should take care.
Focus on one thing to edit at a time
When managing CSS for a website, users should try editing one aspect of the website at a time. For example, if the user has a WordPress site and opens up the code editor, he should edit the font size for each item before moving on to the next thing on his list. This is helpful if someone has a lot of changes to make on a site. By focusing on one aspect at a time, such as font or colors, the user can manage the style sheet and his time more easily.
Utilize the search function
When looking at the style sheet, it can be a little overwhelming at first, as there may be hundreds of lines of code to sort through. New CSS users who are just beginning to learn computer programming shouldn’t let that be intimidating. Since they know what part of the style sheet they want to edit, they can simply use the search function to find the component, which makes managing the CSS easier. By pressing the Control and S keys (Chrome) or the Control and F keys (Firefox) on the keyboard at the same time, a search box will pop up on the page and the user can enter the component he wants to edit, such as a header or sidebar.
Use multiple style sheets
An easy way to manage CSS that is under development is to use multiple style sheets. This keeps things better organized so the coder doesn’t have as many lines of code to sort through at once. Using multiple CSS files is also helpful if someone has a large website and wants to use different styles and themes for different pages of the site.
Use a CSS file compressor
Since site administrators may have to deal with multiple style sheets on larger sites, when it comes to managing all of the files on a server, it is a good idea to use a compressor—these are available for free online. Not only will a compressor help with reducing the size of the files so they take up less space on the server and load faster, CSS file compressors also clean up the code, which makes it more accessible for other users.
Limit style sheet comments
A final way to make CSS easier to manage is to limit developer comments in the CSS file. Many CSS developers will leave comments throughout the file sheet to offer tips and organize code. Even though the comments can be helpful at times, they eat up bandwidth and if there are an excessive amount of comments, it may make management more difficult for others with access to the code.