CSS Reset

Jonybhai · 12-30-2009

Where do people stand on CSS resets?

I used to use
CODE
* {margin: 0; padding: 0;}
to cancel all the browsers' default margin and padding.

But I've been reading recently that a lot of people don't use this anymore as it creates more work later on by cancelling margin and padding on certain elements which need margin and padding, such as form elements.

Is it best to reset default styles only for certain elements, or just let the browsers do their thing?

deathshadow · 02-23-2010

The issue with form elements is a huge one, making the 'global reset' you mentioned really problematic. No two browsers apply padding/margins/height/width to form elements the same way since the HTML specification doesn't even say how to handle them - so even THINKING about screwing with anything on a form element more than color and width is just begging for it to break cross-browser.

The global reset is 'cute' for quick and dirty development testing, but I'd never deploy it on a production website.

There are some REALLY HUGE fat bloated resets out there, like Eric Meyer's Reset Reloaded - which frankly wastes a lot of time setting values on elements that have nothing to do with a 'reset' and that I personally would be setting to different values anyways.

The reset I use trims away the fat and resets just the elements I need reset.

Code:

/* null margins and padding to give good cross-browser baseline */
html,body,address,blockquote,div,
form,fieldset,caption,
h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,
hr,ul,li,ol,ul,
table,tr,td,th,p,img {
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}

img,fieldset {
	border:none;
}

I've never needed more, and less doesn't get the job done for me.