Clean β’ Professional
A lean, efficient CSS setup directly impacts page speed, user experience, and SEO. Letβs break down the top optimization techniques.
Minifying CSS is the process of stripping out all unnecessary characters β spaces, line breaks, and comments β without changing how your site looks. Think of it as packing your clothes neatly to fit more in a suitcase.
How to do it:
Example:
<!-- index.html -->
<h1>Welcome</h1>
<p>This page loads quickly thanks to minified CSS!</p>
/* Before minification */
body {
margin: 0;
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
background-color: #ffffff;
}
h1 {
color: #333;
padding: 20px;
}
/* After minification */
body{margin:0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:#fff}h1{color:#333;padding:20px}
Over time, CSS files accumulate rules that arenβt used on a page. Purging removes them, keeping your CSS light and clean.
How to do it:
Example (Tailwind CSS):
<h1 class="text-2xl font-bold">Hello, World!</h1>
/* Before purging */
.text-2xl { font-size: 1.5rem; }
.font-bold { font-weight: 700; }
.bg-blue { background-color: blue; } /* Unused */
/* After purging */
.text-2xl { font-size: 1.5rem; }
.font-bold { font-weight: 700; }
Command:
npx purgecss --css styles.css --content index.html --output optimized.css
When the browser recalculates layouts (reflow) or redraws pixels (repaint), it consumes processing power. Excessive reflows can slow your site and cause layout shifts.
How to do it:
transform and opacity for animations (GPU-accelerated).width, height, or margin repeatedly.will-change sparingly to hint at upcoming changes.Example:
/* Bad: Causes reflow */
.btn:hover {
width: 150px;
}
/* Good: Smooth, no reflow */
.btn:hover {
transform: scale(1.1);
background-color: navy;
}
<button class="btn">Hover Me</button>