<a> Link Visited Hover Active

[jont]

Could the coders please try and set pseudo classes for the <a> more in keeping with W3C guidelines in terms of order eg:

Link
Visited
Hover
Active

.. at the moment is is typically VLAH

Condensing the code to declare a default a.class (font, size, padding, borders etc) and simply changing the various states for changes in colour, underlines etc would make changing the class appearance much simpler. At the moment each state is having all the attributes declared adding to editing time and code bloat.... eg:

a.link_menu:visited {
padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px;
margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px;
color : #ffffff;
text-decoration : none;
background-color: #336699;
border: 1px solid #ccccff;
}

a.link_menu:link {
padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px;
margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px;
color : #ffffff;
text-decoration : none;
background-color: #336699;
border: 1px solid #ccccff;
}

a.link_menu:active {
padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px;
margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px;
color : #ffffff;
text-decoration : none;
background-color: #336699;
border: 1px solid #ccccff;
}

a.link_menu:hover {
padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px;
margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px;
color : #ffffff;
text-decoration : none;
background-color: #003366;
border: 1px solid #ccccff;
}

as very little changes between the states.

[leehack]

I'd second this as the CSS file is awful. With it being so big, reducing the code extensively (probably could be reduced by 50%) would be a significant improvement.

I'd also like to have separate CSS files for the themes, making amendments very easy. As a theme is selected, the link for the css file is changed accordingly so you are not having to download a huge CSS file each time OR hunt through 1200 odd lines of code to find what you are after.

I was looking at those earlier today Jont and it is only the:

a.link_menu:hover {
padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px;
margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px;
color : #ffffff;
text-decoration : none;
background-color: #003366;
border: 1px solid #ccccff;
}

that does anything different. 32 lines of code in what could be done in 11, it really is no wonder that the css file is so cumbersome.

[jont]

IWith it being so big, reducing the code extensively (probably could be reduced by 50%) would be a significant improvement.

Based on the clean css layout theme (I added about 50 lines of own code) but simply deleting the white space reduced the file from 25kb to 19kb ... have not even started compacting the CSS yet

[leehack]

I think 50% could be conservative, if i had the time (more like patience) i'm sure it could be reduced by 75%. And more importantly be easier to direct people to areas of change.

We should set a challenge to somebody with a lot of time to see how small they can make it. Then he/she should sell it to Actinic.

[jont]

if i had the time (more like patience) i'm sure it could be reduced

This is the problem - the CSS works and time can be better spent elsewhere.. unfortunately it grates my teeth as I spend so much time with it so can't help but tidy it first... almost a compulsion.

I will report back the size when completed.

[leehack]

Sweepstake on the result, i will take 75% reduction.

Look forward to seeing it you brave man!!!

[jont]

75% reduction

Now there's a challenge - cheers mate!

[leehack]

That would be with abbreviated CSS though, i reckon you will get 40% before you even open your eyes to it.

[Duncan Rounding]

There are also a number of overriding styles defined in the outer layout of the themes which should be tucked away in actinic.css instead.

[cdicken]

I don't really want to do anything with v8, as it could potentially affect people's existing designs if they chose to upgrade to the new CSS file. I'll be looking into it for future versions though.