21 Jan
2010
21 Jan
'10
8:36 p.m.
If we want to have more comments in the CSS we should use a minimizer for
the CSS, so that they are removed (along with the spaces) from the version
we serve to the client. Some CSS files we have already do this.
Another problem with CSS is that we add / modify some rules to assure
compatibility with some specific browser. A solution would be to have
specific files (just like the one we have for IE6) for the browsers that
need those properties, so that we don't have to comment on every lines what
compatibility is used for. Having multiple files that do the same thing can
be hard to manage and sometimes browsers share behavior (depending on the
engine). Ex: In the patch above the scrolling was only for Chrome and
Safari.
And the big problem in my opinion is that rules come in packages. To fix one
bug you would need to comment a line in a class that is dependent to a line
from another class, etc, etc. Ex: In the patch above the widths matter
because of the float:left. Plus the cascading inheritance behavior of CSS.
Right now we use comments in CSS to group properties, to specify overriding,
to specify the browser that needs the property or to mark the hack.