Reset.css and then a Set.css

Question

I have, for a while now been using a reset.css file to reset everything before I start laying out my html designs.

The reset is great in that it allows one to better control attributes such as margins, padding, line-height etc for all browsers. In essence the flatliner of css files.

Now to get the heart beating again, I need a "set.css" file. So what I have done is created an Html file with all the possible elements on the page to then go and set the padding, margins etc of the h1, h2, p, td etc.

I need some help with this as I am not sure what the defaults normally are. I had a look at the Firefox default css file that's used to generate all these attributes on a raw html file but it doesn't cover all the scenarios I could come up with when developing a site.

Here's an example of the set.html file (a work in progress) which can be used as a lorem ipsum filler to add to your first page in a cms and then to style with a "set.css" file

http://www.sixfoot.co.za/labs/Html-Css/set.html

I'd appreciate it if someone knows if something like a set.css file exists or if someone could tell me what the general padding and margins are in cases like this when you have reset the css.

Cheers, James

Answer 1

There is no "standard", that's why the reset exists.

I've never heard of a set css file, and while I understand the point of it, rather than creating two separate files it should be merged into 1. It is inefficient to have rules listed twice.

The only thing that I always push is 7px of padding on the button of paragraphs.

I also like: padding: 0 10px 7px 0 on td tags.

Answer 2

I need some help with this as I am not sure what the defaults normally are.

CSS defines a default stylesheet: Appendix D. Default style sheet for HTML 4

Answer 3

This sounds similar to the YUI's base file which applies formatting to the main. It was created to be used with YUI's settings for fonts and grids but is still applicable for general use.

I guess when setting these values, if not using a 3rd party file, I pick something which is meaningful to the site I'm styling. A tricky job though as I find CSS a pain to work with.