CSS Normalizing

Normalizing means loading a small CSS file, before any of your own styles, that smooths out the differences between the default styles of each browser.

Every browser ships a default browser stylesheet, the set of rules applied to elements when the page has no CSS at all. It’s why an h1 is big and bold, and links are blue and underlined, before you write a single rule.

Most of the times those styles are very useful.

The problem is that every browser has its own set, and they don’t fully agree. Margins, font sizes and line heights differ in small ways. Form controls are the classic offender: buttons, inputs and selects come with their own fonts and sizes, and they don’t inherit the ones you set on the page.

Reset or normalize?

There are two ways to deal with this.

A CSS reset wipes everything out. Margins, paddings, font sizes: all zeroed. Every element looks the same, and you rebuild each style from scratch.

Normalizing takes a lighter approach. It removes the browser inconsistencies while keeping a basic set of rules you can rely on. Headings keep their sizes, lists keep their bullets, and the cross-browser quirks are fixed for you.

Normalize.css http://necolas.github.io/normalize.css is the most commonly used solution for this problem.

How do you use it?

Download the file (or install it with npm install normalize.css) and load it before any other CSS:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/normalize.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css">

Order matters, and getting it wrong is the most common mistake. When two rules have the same specificity, the one loaded last wins. If normalize.css loads after your stylesheet, its rules can silently override yours: your body margin disappears, your heading margins change. If a style you wrote seems to have no effect, check the order of your link tags first.

What does it fix?

Here is the full file, nicely commented so you can see all the work it does for you, fixing bugs one might never even know about:

/*! normalize.css v8.0.1 | MIT License | github.com/necolas/normalize.css */

/* Document
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * 1. Correct the line height in all browsers.
 * 2. Prevent adjustments of font size after orientation changes in iOS.
 */

html {
  line-height: 1.15; /* 1 */
  -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; /* 2 */
}

/* Sections
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * Remove the margin in all browsers.
 */

body {
  margin: 0;
}

/**
 * Render the `main` element consistently in IE.
 */

main {
  display: block;
}

/**
 * Correct the font size and margin on `h1` elements within `section` and
 * `article` contexts in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
 */

h1 {
  font-size: 2em;
  margin: 0.67em 0;
}

/* Grouping content
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * 1. Add the correct box sizing in Firefox.
 * 2. Show the overflow in Edge and IE.
 */

hr {
  box-sizing: content-box; /* 1 */
  height: 0; /* 1 */
  overflow: visible; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * 1. Correct the inheritance and scaling of font size in all browsers.
 * 2. Correct the odd `em` font sizing in all browsers.
 */

pre {
  font-family: monospace, monospace; /* 1 */
  font-size: 1em; /* 2 */
}

/* Text-level semantics
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * Remove the gray background on active links in IE 10.
 */

a {
  background-color: transparent;
}

/**
 * 1. Remove the bottom border in Chrome 57-
 * 2. Add the correct text decoration in Chrome, Edge, IE, Opera, and Safari.
 */

abbr[title] {
  border-bottom: none; /* 1 */
  text-decoration: underline; /* 2 */
  text-decoration: underline dotted; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * Add the correct font weight in Chrome, Edge, and Safari.
 */

b,
strong {
  font-weight: bolder;
}

/**
 * 1. Correct the inheritance and scaling of font size in all browsers.
 * 2. Correct the odd `em` font sizing in all browsers.
 */

code,
kbd,
samp {
  font-family: monospace, monospace; /* 1 */
  font-size: 1em; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * Add the correct font size in all browsers.
 */

small {
  font-size: 80%;
}

/**
 * Prevent `sub` and `sup` elements from affecting the line height in
 * all browsers.
 */

sub,
sup {
  font-size: 75%;
  line-height: 0;
  position: relative;
  vertical-align: baseline;
}

sub {
  bottom: -0.25em;
}

sup {
  top: -0.5em;
}

/* Embedded content
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * Remove the border on images inside links in IE 10.
 */

img {
  border-style: none;
}

/* Forms
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * 1. Change the font styles in all browsers.
 * 2. Remove the margin in Firefox and Safari.
 */

button,
input,
optgroup,
select,
textarea {
  font-family: inherit; /* 1 */
  font-size: 100%; /* 1 */
  line-height: 1.15; /* 1 */
  margin: 0; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * Show the overflow in IE.
 * 1. Show the overflow in Edge.
 */

button,
input { /* 1 */
  overflow: visible;
}

/**
 * Remove the inheritance of text transform in Edge, Firefox, and IE.
 * 1. Remove the inheritance of text transform in Firefox.
 */

button,
select { /* 1 */
  text-transform: none;
}

/**
 * Correct the inability to style clickable types in iOS and Safari.
 */

button,
[type="button"],
[type="reset"],
[type="submit"] {
  -webkit-appearance: button;
}

/**
 * Remove the inner border and padding in Firefox.
 */

button::-moz-focus-inner,
[type="button"]::-moz-focus-inner,
[type="reset"]::-moz-focus-inner,
[type="submit"]::-moz-focus-inner {
  border-style: none;
  padding: 0;
}

/**
 * Restore the focus styles unset by the previous rule.
 */

button:-moz-focusring,
[type="button"]:-moz-focusring,
[type="reset"]:-moz-focusring,
[type="submit"]:-moz-focusring {
  outline: 1px dotted ButtonText;
}

/**
 * Correct the padding in Firefox.
 */

fieldset {
  padding: 0.35em 0.75em 0.625em;
}

/**
 * 1. Correct the text wrapping in Edge and IE.
 * 2. Correct the color inheritance from `fieldset` elements in IE.
 * 3. Remove the padding so developers are not caught out when they zero out
 *    `fieldset` elements in all browsers.
 */

legend {
  box-sizing: border-box; /* 1 */
  color: inherit; /* 2 */
  display: table; /* 1 */
  max-width: 100%; /* 1 */
  padding: 0; /* 3 */
  white-space: normal; /* 1 */
}

/**
 * Add the correct vertical alignment in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
 */

progress {
  vertical-align: baseline;
}

/**
 * Remove the default vertical scrollbar in IE 10+.
 */

textarea {
  overflow: auto;
}

/**
 * 1. Add the correct box sizing in IE 10.
 * 2. Remove the padding in IE 10.
 */

[type="checkbox"],
[type="radio"] {
  box-sizing: border-box; /* 1 */
  padding: 0; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * Correct the cursor style of increment and decrement buttons in Chrome.
 */

[type="number"]::-webkit-inner-spin-button,
[type="number"]::-webkit-outer-spin-button {
  height: auto;
}

/**
 * 1. Correct the odd appearance in Chrome and Safari.
 * 2. Correct the outline style in Safari.
 */

[type="search"] {
  -webkit-appearance: textfield; /* 1 */
  outline-offset: -2px; /* 2 */
}

/**
 * Remove the inner padding in Chrome and Safari on macOS.
 */

[type="search"]::-webkit-search-decoration {
  -webkit-appearance: none;
}

/**
 * 1. Correct the inability to style clickable types in iOS and Safari.
 * 2. Change font properties to `inherit` in Safari.
 */

::-webkit-file-upload-button {
  -webkit-appearance: button; /* 1 */
  font: inherit; /* 2 */
}

/* Interactive
   ========================================================================== */

/*
 * Add the correct display in Edge, IE 10+, and Firefox.
 */

details {
  display: block;
}

/*
 * Add the correct display in all browsers.
 */

summary {
  display: list-item;
}

/* Misc
   ========================================================================== */

/**
 * Add the correct display in IE 10+.
 */

template {
  display: none;
}

/**
 * Add the correct display in IE 10.
 */

[hidden] {
  display: none;
}

A few of those rules solve problems you’d otherwise discover the hard way. The body { margin: 0 } rule removes the default margin browsers add around the page, which almost nobody wants. The block setting font-family: inherit on button, input, select and textarea makes form controls pick up your page font instead of the system one. And the sub and sup rules stop superscripts and subscripts from stretching the line height of the text around them.

You don’t need to read or understand the whole file. Load it first, forget about it, and write your own CSS on top of a consistent base.