Base CSS endorsing semantic HTML and design token usage

Backstory

Browsing through the issues of CSS Remedy, I came across an important observation by Jen Simmons:

Why don’t people use <fieldset> far more — instead of divs in their forms?

Perhaps it’s because fieldset comes with ugly default styling.

This made me question common HTML rendering suggestions. Each design is different, so there isn’t a single set of sensible defaults for every website.

Style normalization is crucial for a consistent user experience among browsers. With the emergence of various design systems, however, CSS normalizers and resets should coexist and complement each other.

Catering to the needs of token-based theming systems, this project was born.

Usage

1. Install the library and a normalizer with your package manager (or use a CDN):

   npm install css-homogenizer modern-normalize

   Using either modern-normalize or @csstools/normalize.css is optional but recommended to fix common browser inconsistencies.

2. Include the following styles in the order below, before any custom CSS:

   import "modern-normalize/modern-normalize.css";
   import "css-homogenizer/reset.css"; // or "css-homogenizer/reset-scoped.css"
   import "css-homogenizer/base.css";

   You may adopt each stylesheet one by one.

   Please refer to your framework’s guidelines for importing CSS files at the top level. Plain <link> tags may also be used, but be aware of the performance costs.

What’s included?

reset.css

Nullifies spacings, borders and several typography-related settings.

• Line heights are matched up with font sizes.
• Heading (h1–h6), th and address elements inherit their font properties and text alignment from parents.
• List (ul, ol, menu) and a elements are unstyled to promote proper HTML semantics over misleading visuals.
• Form controls are unstyled to cater for overrides.
• Placeholders have opacity: 1 set for consistency between browsers.
• Tables inherit their border-color for consistency between browsers.

Obsolete and deprecated HTML elements are ignored, as their usage is strongly discouraged.

reset-scoped.css

A scoped variant of the reset, targeting classes instead of element types.

• Classes are prefixed by _ to avoid collisions with other selectors. E.g. ._p contains declarations applicable to p elements.
• Rules for html and body elements are omitted.

Usage with React

When using a compiler like Babel, the underlying JSX runtime may be overridden. This allows for auto-injecting scoped reset classes to plain HTML elements on the fly:

• <p>Hi</p> → <p class="_p">Hi</p>
• <p className="custom">Hi</p> → <p class="_p custom">Hi</p>

// babel.config.json
{
  "presets": [
    [
      "@babel/preset-react",
      {
        "runtime": "automatic",
        "importSource": "css-homogenizer/reset-scoped/react",
      },
    ],
  ],
}

Usage manually

You may attach a scoped reset class to an element on your own, e.g.:

<p class="_p">Hi</p>

To see all the classes available, execute the following snippet:

import { getResetClassName, resetElements } from "css-homogenizer/reset-scoped";

console.log(resetElements.map((element) => getResetClassName(element)));

Helper methods also come in handy when dealing with third-party libraries, e.g.:

import { Listbox } from "@headlessui/react";
import { getResetClassName } from "css-homogenizer/reset-scoped";

function Select(/* … */) {
  return (
    <Listbox /* … */>
      <Listbox.Button className={getResetClassName("button")}>
        {/* … */}
      </Listbox.Button>
      {/* … */}
    </Listbox>
  );
}

base.css

Provides a minimalistic set of generally useful rules. Please refer to the file’s inline comments for further details.

Browser support

• Latest Chrome
• Latest Firefox
• Latest Safari

Acknowledgments

This project was mainly inspired by Reset CSS, CSS Remedy and sanitize.css. It wouldn’t have been possible without the long-standing efforts of the authors behind those predecessors.

The logo’s test tube emoji is courtesy of Twemoji and the font in use is Lobster.