{"id":28824,"date":"2016-12-29T21:01:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T13:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=28824"},"modified":"2023-04-06T19:13:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T11:13:29","slug":"maintainable-css","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/maintainable-css\/","title":{"rendered":"MaintainableCSS: Online Guide to Maintainable CSS Code"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Writing CSS is pretty simple once you understand the syntax and methods to structure a page. But mastering CSS to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-series-refactoring-css\/\">create modular, semantic, and reusable code<\/a> is a whole other topic.<\/p>\n<p>There are many different techniques you can use like SMACSS or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/inverted-triangle-css-web-development\/\">ITCSS<\/a>, but these are models that force you in a certain direction. Instead you might like <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">MaintainableCSS<\/a> which is an <strong>online guide full of tips and strategies<\/strong> for <strong>writing better long-term CSS code<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/maintainable-css\/01-maintainable-css-homepage.jpg\" alt=\"maintainablecss homepage\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>The guide is completely free and it\u2019s even hosted <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/adamsilver\/maintainablecss.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">on GitHub<\/a> including all the website code. You should start reading at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/chapters\/introduction\/\" rel=\"noopener\">the introduction<\/a> which explains the basics of this online guide and why it\u2019s valuable to web developers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"recommended_top\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Read Also:<\/strong>\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/writing-better-css\/\">How to Write Better CSS with Performance in Mind<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>These code guidelines help you <strong>develop habits<\/strong> rather than forced structures. This way you can <strong>organize code the right way<\/strong> no matter how you actually write specific selectors(but MaintainableCSS has suggestions for this too).<\/p>\n<p>Aside from code organization this site also gets into more <strong>complex topics regarding modern CSS development<\/strong>. Some of these topics include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Modular development<\/li>\n<li>Speed & performance<\/li>\n<li>Handling redundancy<\/li>\n<li>Code conventions<\/li>\n<li>CSS states like loading, disabled, and hidden<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of the chapters are very short and they move quick so you won\u2019t spend much time going through this guide.<\/p>\n<p>Take a look over the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/chapters\/\" rel=\"noopener\">table of contents<\/a> and the twelve chapters inside this guide. The basics are pretty common but you\u2019ll learn a lot of advanced topics like <strong>versioning<\/strong> and <strong>JavaScript+CSS development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/chapters\/conventions\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/maintainable-css\/02-maintainable-css-conventions-syntax.jpg\" alt=\"maintainable css guide\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Brand new <strong>developers who still don\u2019t understand CSS may want to avoid this guide<\/strong>. It assumes a basic level of knowledge involving <strong>specificity, selectors, and properties<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>But if you already know how to write CSS and just want to do it better then <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/maintainablecss.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">MaintainableCSS<\/a> is for you. It\u2019s the <strong>short and sweet approach to clean modular frontend development<\/strong> by getting back to the basics and writing code that\u2019ll last for years to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"recommended_top\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Read Also:<\/strong>\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/css-writing-methodologies\/\">Mastering Effective CSS Writing Methodologies<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing CSS is pretty simple once you understand the syntax and methods to structure a page. But mastering CSS to create modular, semantic, and reusable code is a whole other topic. There are many different techniques you can use like SMACSS or ITCSS, but these are models that force you in a certain direction. Instead&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[352],"tags":[507,2902],"topic":[4520],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MaintainableCSS: Online Guide to Maintainable CSS Code - Hongkiat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writing CSS is pretty simple once you understand the syntax and methods to structure a page. But mastering CSS to create modular, semantic, and reusable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/maintainable-css\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MaintainableCSS: Online Guide to Maintainable CSS Code\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing CSS is pretty simple once you understand the syntax and methods to structure a page. But mastering CSS to create modular, semantic, and reusable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/maintainable-css\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-29T13:01:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-06T11:13:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/maintainable-css\/01-maintainable-css-homepage.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Rocheleau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Rocheleau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jake Rocheleau\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/966b2daea15283b4145e71aa98a82c2a\"},\"headline\":\"MaintainableCSS: Online Guide to Maintainable CSS Code\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-29T13:01:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:13:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":333,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/maintainable-css\\\/01-maintainable-css-homepage.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"CSS\",\"CSS Tools\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Web Design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/\",\"name\":\"MaintainableCSS: Online Guide to Maintainable CSS Code - Hongkiat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/maintainable-css\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/maintainable-css\\\/01-maintainable-css-homepage.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-29T13:01:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:13:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Writing CSS is pretty simple once you understand the syntax and methods to structure a page. 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