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1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3<head>
4<meta charset="utf-8">
5<title>Google HTML/CSS Style Guide</title>
6<link rel="stylesheet" href="javaguide.css">
7<script src="include/styleguide.js"></script>
8<link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://www.google.com/favicon.ico">
9<script src="include/jsguide.js"></script>
10</head>
11<body onload="initStyleGuide();">
12<div id="content">
13<h1>Google HTML/CSS Style Guide</h1>
14<h2 id="Background">1 Background</h2>
15
16<p></p>
17
18<p>This document defines formatting and style rules for HTML and CSS. It aims at
19improving collaboration, code quality, and enabling supporting infrastructure.
20It applies to raw, working files that use HTML and CSS, including GSS files.
21Tools are free to obfuscate, minify, and compile as long as the general code
22quality is maintained.</p>
23
24<p></p>
25
26<p></p>
27
28<h2 id="General">2 General</h2>
29
30<h3 id="General_Style_Rules">2.1 General Style Rules</h3>
31
32<h4 id="Protocol">2.1.1 Protocol</h4>
33
34<p>Use the HTTPS protocol for embedded resources where possible.</p>
35
36<p>Always use the HTTPS protocol (<code>https:</code>) for images and other media
37files, style sheets, and scripts, unless the respective files are not available
38over HTTPS.</p>
39
40<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended: omits the protocol --&gt;
41&lt;script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
42
43&lt;!-- Not recommended: uses the HTTP protocol --&gt;
44&lt;script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
45</code></pre>
46
47<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
48&lt;script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
49</code></pre>
50
51<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended: omits the protocol */
52@import '//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans';
53
54/* Not recommended: uses the HTTP protocol */
55@import 'http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans';
56</code></pre>
57
58<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
59@import 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans';
60</code></pre>
61
62
63
64<p></p>
65
66<p></p>
67
68<p></p>
69
70<h3 id="General_Formatting_Rules">2.2 General Formatting Rules</h3>
71
72<h4 id="Indentation">2.2.1 Indentation</h4>
73
74<p>Indent by 2 spaces at a time.</p>
75
76<p>Don&#8217;t use tabs or mix tabs and spaces for indentation.</p>
77
78<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;ul&gt;
79  &lt;li&gt;Fantastic
80  &lt;li&gt;Great
81&lt;/ul&gt;
82</code></pre>
83
84<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">.example {
85  color: blue;
86}
87</code></pre>
88
89<h4 id="Capitalization">2.2.2 Capitalization</h4>
90
91<p>Use only lowercase.</p>
92
93<p>All code has to be lowercase: This applies to HTML element names, attributes,
94attribute values (unless <code>text/CDATA</code>), CSS selectors, properties, and property
95values (with the exception of strings).</p>
96
97<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
98&lt;A HREF="/"&gt;Home&lt;/A&gt;
99</code></pre>
100
101<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
102&lt;img src="google.png" alt="Google"&gt;
103</code></pre>
104
105<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
106color: #E5E5E5;
107</code></pre>
108
109<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
110color: #e5e5e5;
111</code></pre>
112
113<h4 id="Trailing_Whitespace">2.2.3 Trailing Whitespace</h4>
114
115<p>Remove trailing white spaces.</p>
116
117<p>Trailing white spaces are unnecessary and can complicate diffs.</p>
118
119<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
120&lt;p&gt;What?_
121</code></pre>
122
123<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
124&lt;p&gt;Yes please.
125</code></pre>
126
127<h3 id="General_Meta_Rules">2.3 General Meta Rules</h3>
128
129<h4 id="Encoding">2.3.1 Encoding</h4>
130
131<p>Use UTF-8 (no BOM).</p>
132
133<p>Make sure your editor uses UTF-8 as character encoding, without a byte order
134mark.</p>
135
136<p>Specify the encoding in HTML templates and documents via <code>&lt;meta
137charset="utf-8"&gt;</code>. Do not specify the encoding of style sheets as these assume
138UTF-8.</p>
139
140<p>(More on encodings and when and how to specify them can be found in <a href="https://www.w3.org/International/tutorials/tutorial-char-enc/">Handling
141character encodings in HTML and CSS</a>.)</p>
142
143<h4 id="Comments">2.3.2 Comments</h4>
144
145<p>Explain code as needed, where possible.</p>
146
147<p>Use comments to explain code: What does it cover, what purpose does it serve,
148why is respective solution used or preferred?</p>
149
150<p>(This item is optional as it is not deemed a realistic expectation to always
151demand fully documented code. Mileage may vary heavily for HTML and CSS code and
152depends on the project&#8217;s complexity.)</p>
153
154<h4 id="Action_Items">2.3.3 Action Items</h4>
155
156<p>Mark todos and action items with <code>TODO</code>.</p>
157
158<p>Highlight todos by using the keyword <code>TODO</code> only, not other common formats like
159<code>@@</code>.</p>
160
161<p>Append a contact (username or mailing list) in parentheses as with the format
162<code>TODO(contact)</code>.</p>
163
164<p>Append action items after a colon as in <code>TODO: action item</code>.</p>
165
166<pre></pre>
167
168<pre><code class="language-django prettyprint external">{# TODO(john.doe): revisit centering #}
169&lt;center&gt;Test&lt;/center&gt;
170</code></pre>
171
172<p></p>
173
174<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- TODO: remove optional tags --&gt;
175&lt;ul&gt;
176  &lt;li&gt;Apples&lt;/li&gt;
177  &lt;li&gt;Oranges&lt;/li&gt;
178&lt;/ul&gt;
179</code></pre>
180
181<h2 id="HTML">3 HTML</h2>
182
183<h3 id="HTML_Style_Rules">3.1 HTML Style Rules</h3>
184
185<h4 id="Document_Type">3.1.1 Document Type</h4>
186
187<p>Use HTML5.</p>
188
189<p>HTML5 (HTML syntax) is preferred for all HTML documents: <code>&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;</code>.</p>
190
191<p>(It&#8217;s recommended to use HTML, as <code>text/html</code>. Do not use XHTML. XHTML, as
192<a href="https://hixie.ch/advocacy/xhtml"><code>application/xhtml+xml</code></a>, lacks both browser
193and infrastructure support and offers less room for optimization than HTML.)</p>
194
195<p>Although fine with HTML, do not close void elements, i.e. write <code>&lt;br&gt;</code>, not
196<code>&lt;br /&gt;</code>.</p>
197
198<h4 id="HTML_Validity">3.1.2 HTML Validity</h4>
199
200<p>Use valid HTML where possible.</p>
201
202<p>Use valid HTML code unless that is not possible due to otherwise unattainable
203performance goals regarding file size.</p>
204
205<p>
206
207Use tools such as the <a href="https://validator.w3.org/nu/">W3C HTML validator</a>
208to test.
209</p>
210
211<p>Using valid HTML is a measurable baseline quality attribute that contributes to
212learning about technical requirements and constraints, and that ensures proper
213HTML usage.</p>
214
215<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
216&lt;title&gt;Test&lt;/title&gt;
217&lt;article&gt;This is only a test.
218</code></pre>
219
220<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
221&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
222&lt;meta charset="utf-8"&gt;
223&lt;title&gt;Test&lt;/title&gt;
224&lt;article&gt;This is only a test.&lt;/article&gt;
225</code></pre>
226
227<h4 id="Semantics">3.1.3 Semantics</h4>
228
229<p>Use HTML according to its purpose.</p>
230
231<p>Use elements (sometimes incorrectly called &#8220;tags&#8221;) for what they have been
232created for. For example, use heading elements for headings, <code>p</code> elements for
233paragraphs, <code>a</code> elements for anchors, etc.</p>
234
235<p>Using HTML according to its purpose is important for accessibility, reuse, and
236code efficiency reasons.</p>
237
238<p></p>
239
240<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
241&lt;div onclick="goToRecommendations();"&gt;All recommendations&lt;/div&gt;
242</code></pre>
243
244<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
245&lt;a href="recommendations/"&gt;All recommendations&lt;/a&gt;
246</code></pre>
247
248<h4 id="Multimedia_Fallback">3.1.4 Multimedia Fallback</h4>
249
250<p>Provide alternative contents for multimedia.</p>
251
252<p>For multimedia, such as images, videos, animated objects via <code>canvas</code>, make sure
253to offer alternative access. For images that means use of meaningful alternative
254text (<code>alt</code>) and for video and audio transcripts and captions, if available.</p>
255
256<p>Providing alternative contents is important for accessibility reasons: A blind
257user has few cues to tell what an image is about without <code>@alt</code>, and other users
258may have no way of understanding what video or audio contents are about either.</p>
259
260<p>(For images whose <code>alt</code> attributes would introduce redundancy, and for images
261whose purpose is purely decorative which you cannot immediately use CSS for, use
262no alternative text, as in <code>alt=""</code>.)</p>
263
264<p></p>
265
266<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
267&lt;img src="spreadsheet.png"&gt;
268</code></pre>
269
270<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
271&lt;img src="spreadsheet.png" alt="Spreadsheet screenshot."&gt;
272</code></pre>
273
274<h4 id="Separation_of_Concerns">3.1.5 Separation of Concerns</h4>
275
276<p>Separate structure from presentation from behavior.</p>
277
278<p>Strictly keep structure (markup), presentation (styling), and behavior
279(scripting) apart, and try to keep the interaction between the three to an
280absolute minimum.</p>
281
282<p>That is, make sure documents and templates contain only HTML and HTML that is
283solely serving structural purposes. Move everything presentational into style
284sheets, and everything behavioral into scripts.</p>
285
286<p>In addition, keep the contact area as small as possible by linking as few style
287sheets and scripts as possible from documents and templates.</p>
288
289<p>Separating structure from presentation from behavior is important for
290maintenance reasons. It is always more expensive to change HTML documents and
291templates than it is to update style sheets and scripts.</p>
292
293<p></p>
294
295<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
296&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
297&lt;title&gt;HTML sucks&lt;/title&gt;
298&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="base.css" media="screen"&gt;
299&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="grid.css" media="screen"&gt;
300&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="print.css" media="print"&gt;
301&lt;h1 style="font-size: 1em;"&gt;HTML sucks&lt;/h1&gt;
302&lt;p&gt;I&#8217;ve read about this on a few sites but now I&#8217;m sure:
303  &lt;u&gt;HTML is stupid!!1&lt;/u&gt;
304&lt;center&gt;I can&#8217;t believe there&#8217;s no way to control the styling of
305  my website without doing everything all over again!&lt;/center&gt;
306</code></pre>
307
308<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
309&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
310&lt;title&gt;My first CSS-only redesign&lt;/title&gt;
311&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="default.css"&gt;
312&lt;h1&gt;My first CSS-only redesign&lt;/h1&gt;
313&lt;p&gt;I&#8217;ve read about this on a few sites but today I&#8217;m actually
314  doing it: separating concerns and avoiding anything in the HTML of
315  my website that is presentational.
316&lt;p&gt;It&#8217;s awesome!
317</code></pre>
318
319<h4 id="Entity_References">3.1.6 Entity References</h4>
320
321<p>Do not use entity references.</p>
322
323<p>There is no need to use entity references like <code>&amp;mdash;</code>, <code>&amp;rdquo;</code>, or
324<code>&amp;#x263a;</code>, assuming the same encoding (UTF-8) is used for files and editors
325as well as among teams.</p>
326
327<p>The only exceptions apply to characters with special meaning in HTML (like <code>&lt;</code>
328and <code>&amp;</code>) as well as control or &#8220;invisible&#8221; characters (like no-break spaces).</p>
329
330<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
331The currency symbol for the Euro is &amp;ldquo;&amp;eur;&amp;rdquo;.
332</code></pre>
333
334<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
335The currency symbol for the Euro is &#8220;&#8364;&#8221;.
336</code></pre>
337
338<h4 id="Optional_Tags">3.1.7 Optional Tags</h4>
339
340<p>Omit optional tags (optional).</p>
341
342<p>For file size optimization and scannability purposes, consider omitting optional
343tags. The <a href="https://whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/syntax.html#syntax-tag-omission">HTML5 specification</a>
344defines what tags can be omitted.</p>
345
346<p>(This approach may require a grace period to be established as a wider guideline
347as it&#8217;s significantly different from what web developers are typically taught.
348For consistency and simplicity reasons it&#8217;s best served omitting all optional
349tags, not just a selection.)</p>
350
351<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
352&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
353&lt;html&gt;
354  &lt;head&gt;
355    &lt;title&gt;Spending money, spending bytes&lt;/title&gt;
356  &lt;/head&gt;
357  &lt;body&gt;
358    &lt;p&gt;Sic.&lt;/p&gt;
359  &lt;/body&gt;
360&lt;/html&gt;
361</code></pre>
362
363<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
364&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
365&lt;title&gt;Saving money, saving bytes&lt;/title&gt;
366&lt;p&gt;Qed.
367</code></pre>
368
369<h4 id="type_Attributes">3.1.8 <code>type</code> Attributes</h4>
370
371<p>Omit <code>type</code> attributes for style sheets and scripts.</p>
372
373<p>Do not use <code>type</code> attributes for style sheets (unless not using CSS) and scripts
374(unless not using JavaScript).</p>
375
376<p>Specifying <code>type</code> attributes in these contexts is not necessary as HTML5 implies
377<a href="https://whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/semantics.html#attr-style-type"><code>text/css</code></a>
378and <a href="https://whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/scripting.html#attr-script-type"><code>text/javascript</code></a>
379as defaults. This can be safely done even for older browsers.</p>
380
381<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
382&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.google.com/css/maia.css"
383  type="text/css"&gt;
384</code></pre>
385
386<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
387&lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.google.com/css/maia.css"&gt;
388</code></pre>
389
390<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
391&lt;script src="https://www.google.com/js/gweb/analytics/autotrack.js"
392  type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
393</code></pre>
394
395<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
396&lt;script src="https://www.google.com/js/gweb/analytics/autotrack.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
397</code></pre>
398
399<h3 id="HTML_Formatting_Rules">3.2 HTML Formatting Rules</h3>
400
401<h4 id="General_Formatting">3.2.1 General Formatting</h4>
402
403<p>Use a new line for every block, list, or table element, and indent every such
404child element.</p>
405
406<p>Independent of the styling of an element (as CSS allows elements to assume a
407different role per <code>display</code> property), put every block, list, or table element
408on a new line.</p>
409
410<p>Also, indent them if they are child elements of a block, list, or table element.</p>
411
412<p>(If you run into issues around whitespace between list items it&#8217;s acceptable to
413put all <code>li</code> elements in one line. A linter is encouraged to throw a warning
414instead of an error.)</p>
415
416<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;blockquote&gt;
417  &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Space&lt;/em&gt;, the final frontier.&lt;/p&gt;
418&lt;/blockquote&gt;
419</code></pre>
420
421<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;ul&gt;
422  &lt;li&gt;Moe
423  &lt;li&gt;Larry
424  &lt;li&gt;Curly
425&lt;/ul&gt;
426</code></pre>
427
428<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;table&gt;
429  &lt;thead&gt;
430    &lt;tr&gt;
431      &lt;th scope="col"&gt;Income
432      &lt;th scope="col"&gt;Taxes
433  &lt;tbody&gt;
434    &lt;tr&gt;
435      &lt;td&gt;$ 5.00
436      &lt;td&gt;$ 4.50
437&lt;/table&gt;
438</code></pre>
439
440<h4 id="HTML_Quotation_Marks">3.2.2 HTML Quotation Marks</h4>
441
442<p>When quoting attributes values, use double quotation marks.</p>
443
444<p>Use double (<code>""</code>) rather than single quotation marks (<code>''</code>) around attribute
445values.</p>
446
447<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint badcode">&lt;!-- Not recommended --&gt;
448&lt;a class='maia-button maia-button-secondary'&gt;Sign in&lt;/a&gt;
449</code></pre>
450
451<pre><code class="language-html prettyprint">&lt;!-- Recommended --&gt;
452&lt;a class="maia-button maia-button-secondary"&gt;Sign in&lt;/a&gt;
453</code></pre>
454
455<h2 id="CSS">4 CSS</h2>
456
457<h3 id="CSS_Style_Rules">4.1 CSS Style Rules</h3>
458
459<h4 id="CSS_Validity">4.1.1 CSS Validity</h4>
460
461<p>Use valid CSS where possible.</p>
462
463<p>Unless dealing with CSS validator bugs or requiring proprietary syntax, use
464valid CSS code.</p>
465
466<p>
467
468Use tools such as the <a href="https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/">W3C CSS validator</a>
469to test.
470</p>
471
472<p>Using valid CSS is a measurable baseline quality attribute that allows to spot
473CSS code that may not have any effect and can be removed, and that ensures
474proper CSS usage.</p>
475
476<h4 id="ID_and_Class_Naming">4.1.2 ID and Class Naming</h4>
477
478<p>Use meaningful or generic ID and class names.</p>
479
480<p>Instead of presentational or cryptic names, always use ID and class names that
481reflect the purpose of the element in question, or that are otherwise generic.</p>
482
483<p>Names that are specific and reflect the purpose of the element should be
484preferred as these are most understandable and the least likely to change.</p>
485
486<p>Generic names are simply a fallback for elements that have no particular or no
487meaning different from their siblings. They are typically needed as &#8220;helpers.&#8221;</p>
488
489<p>Using functional or generic names reduces the probability of unnecessary
490document or template changes.</p>
491
492<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended: meaningless */
493#yee-1901 {}
494
495/* Not recommended: presentational */
496.button-green {}
497.clear {}
498</code></pre>
499
500<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended: specific */
501#gallery {}
502#login {}
503.video {}
504
505/* Recommended: generic */
506.aux {}
507.alt {}
508</code></pre>
509
510<h4 id="ID_and_Class_Name_Style">4.1.3 ID and Class Name Style</h4>
511
512<p>Use ID and class names that are as short as possible but as long as necessary.</p>
513
514<p>Try to convey what an ID or class is about while being as brief as possible.</p>
515
516<p>Using ID and class names this way contributes to acceptable levels of
517understandability and code efficiency.</p>
518
519<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
520#navigation {}
521.atr {}
522</code></pre>
523
524<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
525#nav {}
526.author {}
527</code></pre>
528
529<h4 id="Type_Selectors">4.1.4 Type Selectors</h4>
530
531<p>Avoid qualifying ID and class names with type selectors.</p>
532
533<p>Unless necessary (for example with helper classes), do not use element names in
534conjunction with IDs or classes.</p>
535
536<p>Avoiding unnecessary ancestor selectors is useful for <a href="http://www.stevesouders.com/blog/2009/06/18/simplifying-css-selectors/">performance reasons</a>.</p>
537
538<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
539ul#example {}
540div.error {}
541</code></pre>
542
543<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
544#example {}
545.error {}
546</code></pre>
547
548<h4 id="Shorthand_Properties">4.1.5 Shorthand Properties</h4>
549
550<p>Use shorthand properties where possible.</p>
551
552<p>CSS offers a variety of <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/about.html#shorthand">shorthand</a>
553properties (like <code>font</code>) that should be used whenever possible, even in cases
554where only one value is explicitly set.</p>
555
556<p>Using shorthand properties is useful for code efficiency and understandability.</p>
557
558<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
559border-top-style: none;
560font-family: palatino, georgia, serif;
561font-size: 100%;
562line-height: 1.6;
563padding-bottom: 2em;
564padding-left: 1em;
565padding-right: 1em;
566padding-top: 0;
567</code></pre>
568
569<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
570border-top: 0;
571font: 100%/1.6 palatino, georgia, serif;
572padding: 0 1em 2em;
573</code></pre>
574
575<h4 id="0_and_Units">4.1.6 0 and Units</h4>
576
577<p>Omit unit specification after &#8220;0&#8221; values, unless required.</p>
578
579<p>Do not use units after <code>0</code> values unless they are required.</p>
580
581<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">flex: 0px; /* This flex-basis component requires a unit. */
582flex: 1 1 0px; /* Not ambiguous without the unit, but needed in IE11. */
583margin: 0;
584padding: 0;
585</code></pre>
586
587<h4 id="Leading_0s">4.1.7 Leading 0s</h4>
588
589<p>Omit leading &#8220;0&#8221;s in values.</p>
590
591<p>Do not use put <code>0</code>s in front of values or lengths between -1 and 1.</p>
592
593<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">font-size: .8em;
594</code></pre>
595
596<h4 id="Hexadecimal_Notation">4.1.8 Hexadecimal Notation</h4>
597
598<p>Use 3 character hexadecimal notation where possible.</p>
599
600<p>For color values that permit it, 3 character hexadecimal notation is shorter and
601more succinct.</p>
602
603<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
604color: #eebbcc;
605</code></pre>
606
607<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
608color: #ebc;
609</code></pre>
610
611<h4 id="Prefixes">4.1.9 Prefixes</h4>
612
613<p>Prefix selectors with an application-specific prefix (optional).</p>
614
615<p>In large projects as well as for code that gets embedded in other projects or on
616external sites use prefixes (as namespaces) for ID and class names. Use short,
617unique identifiers followed by a dash.</p>
618
619<p></p>
620
621<p></p>
622
623<p>Using namespaces helps preventing naming conflicts and can make maintenance
624easier, for example in search and replace operations.</p>
625
626<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">.adw-help {} /* AdWords */
627#maia-note {} /* Maia */
628</code></pre>
629
630<h4 id="ID_and_Class_Name_Delimiters">4.1.10 ID and Class Name Delimiters</h4>
631
632<p>Separate words in ID and class names by a hyphen.</p>
633
634<p>Do not concatenate words and abbreviations in selectors by any characters
635(including none at all) other than hyphens, in order to improve understanding
636and scannability.</p>
637
638<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended: does not separate the words &#8220;demo&#8221; and &#8220;image&#8221; */
639.demoimage {}
640
641/* Not recommended: uses underscore instead of hyphen */
642.error_status {}
643</code></pre>
644
645<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
646#video-id {}
647.ads-sample {}
648</code></pre>
649
650<h4 id="Hacks">4.1.11 Hacks</h4>
651
652<p>Avoid user agent detection as well as CSS &#8220;hacks&#8221;&#8212;try a different approach
653first.</p>
654
655<p>It&#8217;s tempting to address styling differences over user agent detection or
656special CSS filters, workarounds, and hacks. Both approaches should be
657considered last resort in order to achieve and maintain an efficient and
658manageable code base. Put another way, giving detection and hacks a free pass
659will hurt projects in the long run as projects tend to take the way of least
660resistance. That is, allowing and making it easy to use detection and hacks
661means using detection and hacks more frequently&#8212;and more frequently is too
662frequently.</p>
663
664<p></p>
665
666<p></p>
667
668<h3 id="CSS_Formatting_Rules">4.2 CSS Formatting Rules</h3>
669
670<h4 id="Declaration_Order">4.2.1 Declaration Order</h4>
671
672<p>Alphabetize declarations.</p>
673
674<p>Put declarations in alphabetical order in order to achieve consistent code in a
675way that is easy to remember and maintain.</p>
676
677<p>Ignore vendor-specific prefixes for sorting purposes. However, multiple
678vendor-specific prefixes for a certain CSS property should be kept sorted (e.g.
679-moz prefix comes before -webkit).</p>
680
681<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">background: fuchsia;
682border: 1px solid;
683-moz-border-radius: 4px;
684-webkit-border-radius: 4px;
685border-radius: 4px;
686color: black;
687text-align: center;
688text-indent: 2em;
689</code></pre>
690
691<h4 id="Block_Content_Indentation">4.2.2 Block Content Indentation</h4>
692
693<p>Indent all block content.</p>
694
695<p>Indent all <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/syndata.html#block">block content</a>,
696that is rules within rules as well as declarations, so to reflect hierarchy and
697improve understanding.</p>
698
699<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">@media screen, projection {
700
701  html {
702    background: #fff;
703    color: #444;
704  }
705
706}
707</code></pre>
708
709<h4 id="Declaration_Stops">4.2.3 Declaration Stops</h4>
710
711<p>Use a semicolon after every declaration.</p>
712
713<p>End every declaration with a semicolon for consistency and extensibility
714reasons.</p>
715
716<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
717.test {
718  display: block;
719  height: 100px
720}
721</code></pre>
722
723<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
724.test {
725  display: block;
726  height: 100px;
727}
728</code></pre>
729
730<h4 id="Property_Name_Stops">4.2.4 Property Name Stops</h4>
731
732<p>Use a space after a property name&#8217;s colon.</p>
733
734<p>Always use a single space between property and value (but no space between
735property and colon) for consistency reasons.</p>
736
737<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
738h3 {
739  font-weight:bold;
740}
741</code></pre>
742
743<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
744h3 {
745  font-weight: bold;
746}
747</code></pre>
748
749<h4 id="Declaration_Block_Separation">4.2.5 Declaration Block Separation</h4>
750
751<p>Use a space between the last selector and the declaration block.</p>
752
753<p>Always use a single space between the last selector and the opening brace that
754begins the <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/syndata.html#rule-sets">declaration block</a>.</p>
755
756<p>The opening brace should be on the same line as the last selector in a given
757rule.</p>
758
759<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended: missing space */
760#video{
761  margin-top: 1em;
762}
763
764/* Not recommended: unnecessary line break */
765#video
766{
767  margin-top: 1em;
768}
769</code></pre>
770
771<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
772#video {
773  margin-top: 1em;
774}
775</code></pre>
776
777<h4 id="Selector_and_Declaration_Separation">4.2.6 Selector and Declaration Separation</h4>
778
779<p>Separate selectors and declarations by new lines.</p>
780
781<p>Always start a new line for each selector and declaration.</p>
782
783<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
784a:focus, a:active {
785  position: relative; top: 1px;
786}
787</code></pre>
788
789<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
790h1,
791h2,
792h3 {
793  font-weight: normal;
794  line-height: 1.2;
795}
796</code></pre>
797
798<h4 id="Rule_Separation">4.2.7 Rule Separation</h4>
799
800<p>Separate rules by new lines.</p>
801
802<p>Always put a blank line (two line breaks) between rules.</p>
803
804<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">html {
805  background: #fff;
806}
807
808body {
809  margin: auto;
810  width: 50%;
811}
812</code></pre>
813
814<h4 id="CSS_Quotation_Marks">4.2.8 CSS Quotation Marks</h4>
815
816<p>Use single quotation marks for attribute selectors and property values.</p>
817
818<p>Use single (<code>''</code>) rather than double (<code>""</code>) quotation marks for attribute
819selectors or property values. Do not use quotation marks in URI values
820(<code>url()</code>).</p>
821
822<p>Exception: If you do need to use the <code>@charset</code> rule, use double quotation
823marks&#8212;<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/syndata.html#charset">single quotation marks are not permitted</a>.</p>
824
825<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint badcode">/* Not recommended */
826@import url("https://www.google.com/css/maia.css");
827
828html {
829  font-family: "open sans", arial, sans-serif;
830}
831</code></pre>
832
833<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Recommended */
834@import url(https://www.google.com/css/maia.css);
835
836html {
837  font-family: 'open sans', arial, sans-serif;
838}
839</code></pre>
840
841<h3 id="CSS_Meta_Rules">4.3 CSS Meta Rules</h3>
842
843<h4 id="Section_Comments">4.3.1 Section Comments</h4>
844
845<p>Group sections by a section comment (optional).</p>
846
847<p>If possible, group style sheet sections together by using comments. Separate
848sections with new lines.</p>
849
850<pre><code class="language-css prettyprint">/* Header */
851
852#adw-header {}
853
854/* Footer */
855
856#adw-footer {}
857
858/* Gallery */
859
860.adw-gallery {}
861</code></pre>
862
863
864
865<p></p>
866
867<p></p>
868
869
870
871<p></p>
872
873<p></p>
874
875<pre></pre>
876
877
878
879
880
881<p></p>
882
883<p></p>
884
885<h2 id="Parting_Words">Parting Words</h2>
886
887<p><em>Be consistent.</em></p>
888
889<p>If you&#8217;re editing code, take a few minutes to look at the code around you and
890determine its style. If they use spaces around all their arithmetic operators,
891you should too. If their comments have little boxes of hash marks around them,
892make your comments have little boxes of hash marks around them too.</p>
893
894<p>The point of having style guidelines is to have a common vocabulary of coding so
895people can concentrate on what you&#8217;re saying rather than on how you&#8217;re saying
896it. We present global style rules here so people know the vocabulary, but local
897style is also important. If code you add to a file looks drastically different
898from the existing code around it, it throws readers out of their rhythm when
899they go to read it. Avoid this.</p>
900</div>
901</body>
902</html>
903