Style Sheets Priority Order

Can one CSS file take priority over another CSS file?

It depends on how you set them in your header. So something like this will work:

<link rel="old stylesheet" href="path/to/style.css" />
<link rel="newer stylesheet" href="path/to/style.css" />
<link rel="newest stylesheet" href="path/to/style.css" />

The last one will be picked up.

And an helpful link about stylesheets here:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/present/styles.html#h-14.3.2

See also: Precedence in CSS if the above doesn't work for you.

Hope it is clear.

What is the order of precedence for CSS?

There are several rules ( applied in this order ) :

1. inline css ( html style attribute ) overrides css rules in style tag and css file
2. a more specific selector takes precedence over a less specific one
3. rules that appear later in the code override earlier rules if both have the same specificity.
4. A css rule with !important always takes precedence.

In your case its rule 3 that applies.

Specificity for single selectors from highest to lowest:

• ids (example: #main selects <div id="main">)
• classes (ex.: .myclass), attribute selectors (ex.: [href=^https:]) and pseudo-classes (ex.: :hover)
• elements (ex.: div) and pseudo-elements (ex.: ::before)

To compare the specificity of two combined selectors, compare the number of occurences of single selectors of each of the specificity groups above.

Example: compare #nav ul li a:hover to #nav ul li.active a::after

• count the number of id selectors: there is one for each (#nav)
• count the number of class selectors: there is one for each (:hover and .active)
• count the number of element selectors: there are 3 (ul li a) for the first and 4 for the second (ul li a ::after), thus the second combined selector is more specific.

A good article about css selector specificity.

Style sheets priority order

The correct order of precedence is, from least important to most important:

1. User Agent
2. User Normal
3. Author Normal
4. Author Important
5. User Important

As defined in the specification

In which order do CSS stylesheets override?

The rules for CSS rule cascading are complex -- rather than trying to paraphrase them badly, I'll simply refer you to the spec:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/REC-CSS2-20110607/cascade.html#cascade

In short: more specific rules override more general ones. Specificity is defined based on how many IDs, classes, and element names are involved, as well as whether the !important declaration was used. When multiple rules of the same "specificity level" exist, whichever one appears last wins.

Order of prioritization when using multiple contradictory css files

Quick Answer:

If both pieces of CSS have the same specificity (for example, they're both body{), then whichever gets called LAST will override the previous one.

BUT, if something has higher specificity (a more specific selector), it will be used regardless of the order.

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Example 1:

<div class="container">
    <div class="name">Dave</div>
</div>

<style>
    .name { color: blue; }
    .name { color: red; }
</style>

The above example will make the color red. Both selectors are the same, and therefore also have the same specificity. And because CSS reads top-to-bottom, we first tell it to be blue, but then we override that by telling it "nevermind, make it red".

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Example 2:

<div class="container">
    <div class="name">Dave</div>
</div>

<style>
    #container .name { background-color: blue; }
    .name { background-color: red; }
</style>

The above example will make the background color blue, even though blue was first because the selector is more "specific".

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Exception (the use of !important):

The inclusion of !important will override both specificity and order, but in my opinion, should only be used if you're trying to mess with a third party code in which you don't have access to change it any other way.

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External CSS:

Overwrite rules work the same on external CSS files. Just imagine putting them first-to-last, top-to-bottom. The selectors called in the first file(s) will get overwritten by same-specificity-selectors in any subsequent files. But specificity will still trump order within the same file or in multiple files.

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How to test:

In Chrome, Firefox, and modern versions of IE (probably Safari too), you can right click on something and click "Inspect Element". This will show you the HTML as well as any applied CSS. As you scroll down the CSS (usually on the right), you'll see things that are crossed out - that means they're either incorrect CSS or have been overwritten. To test, you can modify the CSS selectors (either in your own code or right there in the developer tools box) to make them more specific and see if that makes then un-crossed out...etc. Play around w/ that tool - it's VERY helpful.

Not sure how "specific" something is?
Try some of the many online CSS specificity tools:

• https://polypane.app/css-specificity-calculator
• https://specificity.keegan.st/
• https://www.codecaptain.io/tools/css-specificity-calculator

Precedence order of execution of CSS styles

Let's say YOUR website is a house;

HTML in your house is going to be all the walls, columns, and more. By themselves they look ugly.

CSS comes in place to put the style on them like painting, designs and more.

YOU first build the house(HTML), then you paint it(CSS). But with time you realize you need to add a new room to you house(HTML), the builder(JS) adds the new room, and put the CSS in place which gets applied to the new elements.

Every time the builder(JS) add a new part to the house(HTML), the designer(CSS) will styled it.

Now in practice:

you should load your CSS at the top (head tag) so all styles are ready once needed. In the others hand the JS, should be loaded at the end before the closing tag of the body.

CSS which takes precedence, inline or the class?

Generally speaking we can say that all the styles will "cascade" into a new "virtual" style sheet by the following rules, where number three has the highest priority:

1. Browser default
2. Embedded and external stylesheets. Later has precedence over earlier. There IS NOT any inherent difference between embedded and external.
3. Inline style (inside an HTML element)

Source (Edit: of original incorrect information, since corrected both here and there): w3schools

W3schools explains a lot about CSS and also goes through and shows examples of most things you can do with CSS. Always a good resource if you have questions about something. (Edit: debatable, they were the source of the original wrong answer.)

Does the order of css stylesheet definitions matter?

There is a defined cascade in which the styles are sorted and applied.
When declarations have the same importance (weight), origin and specificity then the latter declaration wins. Most answers cover importance and specificity here but not origin.

Here are some very good slides about CSS Cascades. (Overview all resources)

CSS Specificity - external style sheet vs internal style sheet using just classes

All stylesheets are treated the same, what's important is the order in which the styles are declared. For visualization, imagine it this way: The browser takes all CSS files and combines it in one big css file (in the order that they appear in the source code). Then it should be clear why a style is getting overridden if you know how specifications in CSS work.

What is the order of loading the CSS files in a HTML page?

Generally the last rule takes precedence. With that being said, there are "exceptions" in that inline styles take precedence over external stylesheets ( an inline !important is more important than an external !important, etc ), and more specific selectors override generic selectors.

Read all about it @ http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/cascade.html

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