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Stacy Fabian
2,246 PointsIs normalize.css a standard?
So, this might sound like a dumb question but...
Is the "normalize.css" file that you download in this specific course section of the track something that is an industry standard? I mean since it's to normalize styling across browsers is it something I should save away from future personalize use or is it just something for the Treehouse tracks and examples?
Thanks!
5 Answers
Jason Anello
Courses Plus Student 94,610 PointsHi Stacy,
I suppose you could consider it somewhat of an industry standard. It's not something that was created by treehouse and only used internally for their projects.
It is a project by Nicolas Gallagher.
If you take a look at this page: http://necolas.github.io/normalize.css/ You will see a list of some websites that use "normalize.css" There are some major websites listed there. So yes, big name websites use it and you should at least be aware of it.
Dave Berning
17,365 PointsIt certainly wouldn't hurt to keep for future use. From what I understand is it replaces the need for a reset.css stylesheet by giving properties to tags like paragraphs and headings. Just one less thing you have to worry about really. If you don't use a reset.css stylesheet, you'll meed to define the spacing between paragraphs, size of heading levels, spacing between divs, other block level elements etc. I use it every once in a while.
jasonniebauer
28,801 PointsIt is a great idea to bookmark the normalize.css site for quickly referencing back to for the latest version to download. This is totally not a dumb question! Using a reset like normalize.css is more of a best practice, rather than "standard." I use the normalize.css concept on all of my projects.
Here is a good tip! Remove unnecessary css declarations from your reset stylesheet.
Jason Anello
Courses Plus Student 94,610 PointsHi Jason,
It would be more appropriate to refer to "normalize.css" as an alternative to a css reset.
Dave Berning
17,365 PointsYeah, a reset stylesheet removes the default styles on the various elements set into place by the browsers. The styles vary browser to browser and may result in your site looking slightly different in other browsers. A reset stylesheet will give you a blank slate to work with but you'll have to define those styles eventually in your own stylesheet. As Jason said, its an alternative by giving the different 'default' styles to all the elements resulting in the same styles across browsers.
Kevin Percha
1,201 PointsThe file "normalize.css" is used to force browsers to show all elements on a page more consistently. There are certain elements within certain browsers that look different and this is a way to reset everything on a level playing field.
As a test you should write some HTML mark-up in a text editor and view the results within different browsers to see if the results vary. Some might be more noticeable than others and if you are new to this you might not as anything wrong or different. Then use the "normalize.css" file on that same HTML file and view it within different browser to view the results.
You don't have to use it all the time but it is good to start real world(client) projects with.
Also do a Google search for the Eric Meyer CSS Reset and use that instead of "normalize.css" and notice if your results vary.
Kevin
Stacy Fabian
2,246 PointsAwesome, thanks! Always good to keep the "open source" mentality and use whatever tools you can get your hands on, I guess. :)
Dave Berning
17,365 PointsOf yeah of course. There are tons and tons of resources that are developed by individuals in the field. The web field is nothing but open source and one big family (not to be corny). Other things you should look into (and keep forever) are CSS responsive frameworks like Columnal, PHP compressors, various IE polyfills, CSS off-canvas navigations, and much more. The list goes on and on and the more stuff you find the better.