I've noticed that in HTML, some people place their CSS links or styles before the body tag, while others put them after the body tag. Does the order really make a difference, especially compared to how we handle JavaScript? If it does matter, what are the implications of each choice, and what's the best practice?
2 Answers
It definitely matters! Browsers load CSS and JS differently. With CSS in the head, it prepares the layout before users see it, which avoids that flash of unstyled content. If CSS is really large, having it in the body might help with some loading times, but you’ll risk showing users unstyled content briefly, which isn’t ideal. Another approach is using JavaScript for asynchronous loading, but that can have its own issues depending on the user's setup.
Yes, the position of your CSS links can really affect how your page loads. When you put your CSS in the section, the browser will download the styles before showing the page to users. This means they'll see a styled page right away. If you put it in the , it downloads during rendering, which can lead to a 'flicker' where the user sees the unstyled HTML first before it gets styled. So, placing CSS in the is typically the best practice.
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