CSS Daily Tips #21: The CSS Property You’re Probably Using Wrong
CSS is a powerful tool for styling websites, but with great power comes great responsibility — or, in the case of web design, the potential to misuse certain properties. In today’s tip, we’re diving into one of the most commonly misunderstood and misused CSS properties: the infamous !important.
If you’ve been working with CSS for a while, chances are you’ve come across !important and perhaps even used it a few times (or more). But are you using it correctly? Let's explore what !important is, why it exists, and how you might be using it wrong. By the end, you'll have a better grasp of when and how to use !important—and when to avoid it altogether.
1. What Is the !important Declaration?
Before we get into the details of why !important can be problematic, let's define what it is. The !important declaration is a special flag you can attach to a CSS property to give it the highest level of specificity, meaning it will override any other styles, regardless of their origin.
Here’s an example:
.button {
color: red !important;
}In this case, the color: red style will be applied to any element with the class .button, no matter what other styles are applied to it. The !important declaration…
