CSS's !important was added because of laws about font size for some text (twitter.com)

Article summary

CSS co-designer Steven Pemberton stated that the !important keyword was added to CSS due to US laws requiring certain text to be in a given font size. He claimed that anything else is probably misuse and a sign of not understanding the cascade properly. The commenters discussed the practicality and usefulness of !important in real-world front-end development. They shared their experiences and opinions on when and how to use !important, with some arguing it is necessary and others claiming it is a sign of poor CSS structure.

Main themes

• CSS !important keyword
• Front-end development challenges
• CSS structure and best practices
• Practicality vs. theoretical correctness
• Legacy code and third-party code issues
• CSS specificity and override techniques

What commenters say

• The use of !important is often necessary in real-world front-end development due to the complexity of CSS and the need to override existing styles.
• The cascade is a flawed design that falls apart in practice, making !important a necessary tool for many developers.
• Proper use of CSS requires discipline and structure, and !important is often a sign of poor CSS design.
• The criticism of !important is overstated and based on outdated wisdom, rather than actual best practices.
• Using !important can be a practical solution when working with large and complex CSS codebases.
• Increasing specificity is a better approach than using !important, as it allows for more control and flexibility in CSS.
• In some cases, using !important is the only way to override existing styles, especially when working with third-party code or legacy systems.