Reset & Normalize

CSS · Reference cheat sheet

📋 Overview

Resets and normalize stylesheets reduce browser default inconsistencies. A reset aggressively zeros margins/padding; normalize preserves useful defaults while fixing bugs. Modern projects often use a small opinionated base (e.g. border-box, margin wipe, media defaults) instead of huge legacy resets.

🔧 Core concepts

• Goals: predictable box model, typography baseline, media fluidity, form inheritance.
• box-sizing: border-box: almost universal recommendation.
• Inheritance: forms don’t inherit font by default — fix it.
• Lists/quotes: decide whether to keep bullets or reset.
• Layers: put reset in the earliest @layer.
• Don’t: remove focus outlines without :focus-visible replacement.

@layer reset {
  *,
  *::before,
  *::after {
    box-sizing: border-box;
  }
  * {
    margin: 0;
  }
  html {
    -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
  }
  body {
    line-height: 1.5;
    -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
  }
  img,
  picture,
  video,
  canvas,
  svg {
    display: block;
    max-width: 100%;
  }
  input,
  button,
  textarea,
  select {
    font: inherit;
  }
  p,
  h1,
  h2,
  h3,
  h4,
  h5,
  h6 {
    overflow-wrap: break-word;
  }
}

💡 Examples

/* Focus visible, not none */
:focus {
  outline: none;
}
:focus-visible {
  outline: 2px solid var(--accent, #06c);
  outline-offset: 2px;
}

/* List opt-in */
ul[role="list"],
ol[role="list"] {
  list-style: none;
  padding: 0;
}

/* Button reset */
button {
  background: none;
  border: none;
  color: inherit;
  cursor: pointer;
}

/* Table normalize bits */
table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
  border-spacing: 0;
}

/* Reduce motion baseline */
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  html:focus-within {
    scroll-behavior: auto;
  }
}

/* Prefer small modern base over * { all: unset } nukes */

⚠️ Pitfalls

• Ultra-aggressive resets fight third-party widgets — scope when embedding.
• Removing list styles without role="list" can hurt VoiceOver semantics in some cases.
• Never outline: none without a visible :focus-visible alternative.
• Duplicate normalize + framework reboot causes conflicts — pick one base.
• Reset ≠ design system — still define tokens/type after.

🔗 Related

• cascade_layers.md — reset layer
• box_model.md — border-box
• font.md — typography base
• button.md — button styles
• pseudo_classes.md — focus-visible