dsm...@flvs.net wrote:
> I teach Web Design and really focus on standards and best practices.
> When using external style sheets I have always had students link the
> style sheet. Recently some students have begun using the @import
> url("main.css");I understand how to use both. I am just wondering
> what the best practice is and why.
The use of links vs. @imports is not so much a question about "best
practice" as about strategy and file-structure.
On source-code level one has a choice between links and @imports, and
both can be used and misused.
If hiding stylesheets from old and inferior browsers is part of the
strategy, then @import, with and without media-attributes, is one method
that can be used - with some success. Such trickery can also be achieved
with stylesheet links.
Good knowledge about how various browsers handle various link/@import
constructions found in source-code, is essential, and there are several
traps here. Add in methods like the not-yet-stable @media queries
standards - for links, @import and @media, and one really has to be careful.
-----
On CSS level one only has @import, but still many options.
@importing stylesheets for various layout-parts and media into one main
stylesheet which is then linked or @imported from the source-code, may
work well for some of those who reuse stylesheets and prefer to keep all
maintenance and upgrading at stylesheet level.
Depending on strategy and structure the entire "hide from inferior
browsers" can be moved from source-code to stylesheet level, and there's
literally no end to how one can use or misuse browser-weaknesses and
-quirks to achieve specific "hide/targeting" effects. Plenty of traps
here too, and it's pretty easy to open up for future failures.
----
"Best practice" is to keep it as simple and close to standards as
possible for the intended purpose, while observing how standards and
browsers standards-support evolve. So, "best practice" is what works as
intended now - being it links or @imports in this case, and it is of
course an even "better practice" if it continues to work in the future.
Many of the "best practice" methods promoted only a few years ago now -
quite predictable - show signs of failure, so I'm reluctant to promote
any "best practice" method other than one of constantly observing how
all parts work together when seen from a standards point of view and in
actual browsers.
My own strategy is best met by using only links, with and without
media-attributes, in the source-code, but this has nothing to do with
"best practice" apart from that it'll always work as intended.
regards
Georg
--
http://www.gunlaug.no
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