5 Simple Ways to Quickly Improve Your CSS Skills

It may seem at first that CSS is an easy skill to acquire, however, the depth and complexities will probably be brought to light once you start to build websites. Changing colors, adjusting fonts or centering a div may be a breeze but your brain may start to glitch when it is time to build responsive layouts and clean designs. If this is your current predicament then you don't have to be stuck for long. Improving your CSS skills doesn't have to take a lot of time, especially if you do it the right way. Building strong CSS skills is mandatory for building beautiful, interactive and responsive designs. Clients expect a clean design and CSS is the backbone for that. In this article you will find practical tips you can apply immediately to improve your CSS skills helping you write cleaner code and build layouts that bahave the way you expect. 

1.Write clean code

One of the most effective ways to improve your CSS skills is to write clean, well-structured code. Clean code isn;t just about writing code that does not have bugs but about writing code someone else can read, understand, maintain and scale. When your CSS is clean, you will find yourself spending less time debugging and more time coding without breaking everything and anything. You can improve the structure of your code by doing the following;

Indent your code - indenting code dramatically changes how you and anybody else interprets it. CSS files can grow large and comlex really fast. Without indentation it becomes difficult to peruse and understand. 

Use line breaks - CSS rules written in long, compressed lines become difficult to read and prone to errors as the program grows. Line breaks usually help to separate selectors, properties, values and code blocks. One of the best approaches would be to apply one property to one line.

Use comments - learning how to use comments properly. While comments may not have a huge impact over how your website looks or functions, it could significantly affect how readable and scalable your code becomes. CSS files grow really fast. With poorly written comments, even a well-written style will look chaotic. Comments should explain what your code is doing and why it is there. It is mainly used in scenarios where what your code is doing there is not obvious.

2.Have a well-formatted style-sheet

Many CSS bugs and frustrations do not come from complex concepts but from a poorly-formatted style sheet. As your project grows, rules start to overlap and selectors become more complex. Without proper formatting it is easy for your stylesheet to become one big mess that incredibly difficult to debug. Here are some tips for a well-formatted stylesheet;

Use top-down approach - organize your CSS from general rules to specific rules, in the same way the browser reads and interprets styles. That means start with head, body, a, p then proceed to more specific elements. This approach makes your code look logical and becomes easier to debug. Instead of writing CSS randomly as you build components, you organize your style sheet in a manner that reflects the design of your website.

Break files down into sections - instead of bringing together all your styles into one continuous block, divide your stylesheet into meaningful categories by grouping related styles together. You instantly know where to look in the event where you need something and are looking for it. Use separate style sheets for large projects - cramming all your CSS in one file can get overwhelming as your code grows. Breaking your CSS into multiple files allows you to group styles based on purpose. Instead of scrolling endlessly through thousands of lines of CSS, you can quickly find exactly what you need.

3.Eliminate redundancy

Redundancy happens when the same style rules are repeated across different selectors or when unnecessary properties are applied. Redundant CSS is not only messy but also slows down development while increasing the size of your files and making your styles harder to maintain. Less repetition makes for a cleaner, more scalable code. Check for repetitions in your markup. 

4.Consider using a framework

Frameworks like tailwind CSS and Bootstrap provide pre-written CSS code and reusable components that make it easier to create responsive websites. Using a framework exposes you to best practices, real-life workflows and efficient layouts. While frameworks are incredibly useful, it is important to understand the CSS behind it. Don't just copy and paste. Investigate the CSS understand how it works and experiment, it deepens your understanding.

5.Use a reset

Different browsers apply their own default styles to HTML elements. Margins, paddings, font sizes, line heights, and even button styles can vary slightly from browser to browser. Without a reset, your website may look fine in one browser and slightly broken in another, leading to unnecessary debugging and frustration. Not using a reset means you are building on top of browser defaults that you did not define, making it hard to understand why certain elements are behaving in a certain manner.

You don't have to master everything at once if you are looking to improve your CSS skills. Consistency, curiosity and a willingness to experiment is what will most likely catapult your learning journey. The practical tips that were covered in this post, from writing cleaner code to reducing redundancy will significantly improve how you write your CSS. As your skills improve, you will find yourself spending less time debugging and more time building interactive interfaces that work perfectly across all devices. It is important to have in mind that CSS is best learned by building. So, yes, you have to be willing to break things and then build them up again, look at other websites and investigate them, try and recreate designs that appealled to you. Every bug you fix will improve your understanding and sharpen your instincts. Also, don't compare your progress to other people's. Mastering CSS is a journey, not a destination. Even the most experienced of developers are still learning new techniques as the language evolves. Be consistent and your CSS skills will improve faster than a drop of a hat.