Comments on: Should You Ever Use Longhand for Padding and Margins in CSS?

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:51:21 +0000

I agree. Using longhand in this instance makes perfect sense. I usually refrain from using the two-value shorthand declaration (for padding and margin) simply because it takes a bit more time and effort to modify in the future.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:04:35 +0000

It’s important that new developers understand inheritance and how it provides better organization…talking about multiple stylesheets. Shorthand notation provides a trail for identifying the initial declaration. However, every developer will have unique coding practices.

By: Louis Lazaris

Louis Lazaris — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:47:35 +0000

And I support whatever works for you or anyone else, so use shorthand exclusively if that helps you.

And yes, you’re right, if it needed more than just padding on the bottom, I would definitely go for the shorthand. That was the point of the article, to show that longhand could be used (in the case of needing to update just one of the padding values) as the correct option both for maintenance (although you disagree, and that’s fine) and for optimization (fewer characters than shorthand).

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:12:03 +0000

I understand the point of the article, but consistency is good too. What if you wind up needing more than just a padding bottom? Then you would have to go in a retype the shorthand to replace the long hand. I think you should always use shorthand for consistency and maintenance. Five less characters won’t make a difference that’s worthwhile.

By: Eric Hynds

Eric Hynds — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:43:52 +0000

While this doesn’t apply to margin or padding it is probably still worth mentioning that the iPhone doesn’t support shorthand -webkit-border-radius. Instead, you must explicitly define each corner. See: http://www.westciv.com/iphonetests/

Just a small shorthand-related gotcha.

By: Louis Lazaris

Louis Lazaris — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:20:40 +0000

Heh, you’re right. Fixed it. Thanks. :)

By: Christopher Corbett

Christopher Corbett — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:21:32 +0000

I concur. To learn the shorthand, I use the mnemonic “TRouBLe.”

By: Helge-Kristoffer Wang

Helge-Kristoffer Wang — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:51:09 +0000

Thougtfull article. Liked it. :)

By: Stefan Rynkowski

Stefan Rynkowski — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:57:22 +0000

I agree with you. In my personal opinion i would say that you shouldn’t use shorthand all the time. It very makes sense to code like you.

Your code is smaller and people who look at your code can better understand it.

Best regards,
Stefan

By: clervius

clervius — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:52:55 +0000

I actually just recently started using short hand. While it’s nice and all, there’s a bit of solidness that I feel is missing

btw, when you referred to it within the article you said bottom-padding instead of padding-bottom, it’s good in the code though so I figured you weren’t all there