{"id":26333,"date":"2016-04-13T21:36:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T13:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=26333"},"modified":"2023-03-31T18:37:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T10:37:41","slug":"code-optimization-series-refactoring-css","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-series-refactoring-css\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Refactor CSS – A Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: <\/strong>This article is part of our Code Optimization series<\/a>, where we take a look at how to optimize coding for better efficiency in a bid to be better coders.<\/p>\n

CSS refactoring needs to be an essential part of the front-end development workflow, if we want to have a manageable and optimized code base. When we refactor CSS, we clean up and reorganize our existing code<\/strong> without adding any new features or fixing bugs.<\/p>\n

Refactoring helps prevent CSS explosion, improves code readability and reusability<\/strong>, and makes CSS sleeker and faster to execute<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Refactoring is usually needed after a while, as even projects that started out with a concise and organized code base sooner or later begin to lose their clarity; consistency, obsolete rules and duplicate code parts appear; and we also start to override styles and employ more and more hacks and workarounds.<\/p>\n

The best way to keep our CSS code base maintainable is to stick to the \u201crefactor early, refactor often<\/em>\u201d rule of thumb. In this post, we will take a look at some tips about how we can conduct an effective CSS refactoring process.<\/p>\n

1. Conduct an Initial Audit<\/h2>\n

To have a better picture of what we need to refactor, it\u2019s best to start with a comprehensive audit to see what we currently have<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are many great online tools that can help us in this endeavor. CSSDig<\/a> is a powerful Chrome extension that analyzes the CSS of a website, and explores its weaknesses, such as too specific selectors or repetitive properties.<\/p>\n

Unused CSS<\/a> investigates unused CSS rules, while linting tools, such as CSS Lint<\/a>, make it possible to quickly find compatibility, maintainability and other issues.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to manually scrutinize the code during the initial audit, as many problems on the architectural level can only be caught this way.<\/p>\n

\"Initial<\/a><\/figure>\n

2. Set Up a Manageable Plan<\/h2>\n

Refactoring working code is always a daunting task, but we can ease the pain if we create a plan about what we need to do, slice up the refactoring process to manageable chunks, and make a feasible schedule.<\/p>\n

In CSS refactoring there\u2019s a crucial thing we always need take into consideration: some things that we refactor, e.g. changing selector names, will make it necessary to adjust the code of the relevant HTML and JavaScript files<\/strong> as well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s therefore a good idea to trace forward these additional modifications we\u2019ll need to perform<\/strong>, and build them into our refactoring schedule<\/strong> along with the primary, CSS-related tasks.<\/p>\n

3. Track Progress<\/h2>\n

Before embarking on refactoring, it\u2019s an essential step to back up our initial files<\/strong>. Introducing a version control system, such as Git<\/a> or Subversion<\/a>, into our workflow can also significantly improve the refactoring process, as we\u2019ll have a registry about the sequential steps we\u2019ve taken, and we will be able to return to a previous stage if we want to redo things<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Git<\/a><\/figure>\n

4. Stick to a Coding Style Guide<\/h2>\n

A coherent coding style guide can remarkably improve code readability and maintainability, so before we start to refactor it\u2019s essential to set up a CSS coding style guide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The important things to decide upon are:<\/p>\n