Matt Brundage

CSS resetting with the negation pseudo-class

My derivation of Eric Meyer’s latest Reset CSS, but for current browsers:

:not(button):not(input):not(optgroup):not(option):not(select):not(textarea) {margin:0; padding:0; border:0; font-size:100%; font:inherit; vertical-align:baseline;}

article, aside, details, figcaption, figure, footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, section {display:block;}

body {line-height:1;}

ol, ul {list-style:none;}

blockquote, q {quotes:none;}
blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after {content:''; content:none;}

table {border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0;}

Meyer’s first rule — in which we reset margins, padding, borders, and fonts — quickly becomes unwieldy as we explicitly list out all elements, save for a few typically used in forms. Instead, the negation pseudo-class provides a succinct way of selecting these elements. Internet Explorer 8 and below will still need to be fed the more verbose rule, however.

Update

Ah. It turns out I spoke too soon. The negation pseudo class carries a higher specificity than a simple element selector. So in practice, my method would be at least cumbersome. It was a nice mind exercise while it lasted…

Comments are closed.