Determine through code if a CSS file is being utilized

Question

Determine through code if a CSS file is being utilized

Is there a way to automate a CSS audit for file-level info without rendering the page? Could Selenium be used for this purpose?

I've come across browser plugins that can help audit CSS files, but manually reviewing results for each page would be time-consuming.

Motivation

Our web app has accumulated various CSS files in its template header over time, causing conflicts between different rules. To streamline our styling process, I plan to relocate older references from the site template to individual page headers.

To understand which CSS stylesheets are being utilized where on the site, my current idea is to crawl the entire website and track their usage.

UPDATE

Considering the potential for unintentional rule matches, I'm beginning to think that scripting this process may not be feasible. It might be necessary to review each page individually, as some pages could rely on conflicting styles.

Furthermore, I have doubts about the accuracy of static CSS checkers, especially when dealing with template files. Certain rules may only apply at runtime due to server-side elements or JavaScript manipulation.

html css selenium web-scraping

Answer 1

Answer №1

It is not possible to directly check if a file is being used on a website, as browsers will load all files regardless. However, you can programmatically check if a particular CSS rule is being applied. One way to do this is by adding a unique rule to each of your CSS files.

In each file, add the following code:

UNIQUE_RULE::after {
    content: ' ';
    background: url(/track/?page=filename.css);
}

_{Note: Using a unique rule is important in order to avoid conflicts with other rules.}

Browser will only load background images for specific tags that are present in the DOM tree. To ensure that a file is being used, you will need to apply one of its unique rules and then use a tool like Selenium to navigate through all the pages on your site.

Once your test is complete, you can search through your access logs for any missing /track/ file requests. This same method can be applied to check individual CSS rules as well, without having to modify the Selenium setup.

While setting this up may take some time initially, it can be a useful tool once everything is in place.

Although not the most elegant solution, it is functional.

Answer 2

It is not possible to directly check if a file is being used on a website, as browsers will load all files regardless. However, you can programmatically check if a particular CSS rule is being applied. One way to do this is by adding a unique rule to each of your CSS files.

In each file, add the following code:

UNIQUE_RULE::after {
    content: ' ';
    background: url(/track/?page=filename.css);
}

_{Note: Using a unique rule is important in order to avoid conflicts with other rules.}

Browser will only load background images for specific tags that are present in the DOM tree. To ensure that a file is being used, you will need to apply one of its unique rules and then use a tool like Selenium to navigate through all the pages on your site.

Once your test is complete, you can search through your access logs for any missing /track/ file requests. This same method can be applied to check individual CSS rules as well, without having to modify the Selenium setup.

While setting this up may take some time initially, it can be a useful tool once everything is in place.

Although not the most elegant solution, it is functional.

Determine through code if a CSS file is being utilized

Answer №1

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