The Font Family Declaration is Not Operating as Intended

While working on a CSS course, I encountered an interesting issue.

When trying to define the font-family for my body element, I noticed that the changes were not reflected in the displayed fonts. However, when I defined it using * or anywhere else (like p, headlines, etc.), it worked perfectly fine. Why do you think this could be happening?

Here is the code snippet:

This is the index.html

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
       <meta charset="utf-8">
        <title>Welcome</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/reset.css" type="text/css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css" type="text/css">
        <link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    </head>
    <body> ...
    </body>
</html>

This is the style.css 

body{
    font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif;
    font-size: 15px;
    line-height: 1.5em;
}

I'm also including Meyer's reset.css file.

Thank you!

htmlcssfont-family

Answer №1

Key Takeaway: Prioritize loading resets and external resources before custom CSS resources for optimal performance.

In-Depth Explanation

The issue you're encountering is related to specificity in your reset CSS code.

When conflicting CSS rules are present, the browser will prioritize the rule with the most specific selector (or if specificity is equal, the last loaded rule).

The Mozilla Developer's Network describes "Specificity" as:

Specificity assigns weight to a CSS declaration based on the count of each selector type. In cases of equal specificity, the latest declaration found is applied. Specificity matters when targeting the same element; directly targeted CSS rules take precedence over inherited rules from ancestors.

Using Meyer's CSS Reset introduces conflicts with your own CSS due to properties like font: inherit conflicting with your font-family rule. This highlights the importance of the specificity principle—targeted elements override inherited styles from ancestors like body.

To address this, ensure your CSS loads after the reset file. Alternatively, enhance the specificity of your selectors compared to the reset’s selectors. The third option, though not encouraged, involves using !important to emphasize select styles over others but risks unintended side effects.

Illustrative Examples

Non-Functional Example: Demonstrates issues arising from sequential loading of CSS sections versus HTML sections in Stack Snippets.

body {
  font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif;
}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/reset.css" type="text/css">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

<p>Hello, world</p>

Operational Example: Reorder CSS Resources: By loading custom CSS post-reset inclusion, we resolve conflict issues successfully.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/reset.css" type="text/css">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

<style type="text/css">
  body {
    font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif;
  }
</style>

<p>Hello, world</p>

Operational Example: Use a More Targeted Selector: A viable workaround if modifying resource loading sequence isn’t feasible.

body * {
  font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif;
}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/reset.css" type="text/css">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

<p>Hello, world</p>

Operational Example: Emphasize with !important: Caution advised while utilizing !important, deemed against best practices.

body {
  font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif !important;
}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/reset.css" type="text/css">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

<p>Hello, world</p>

Answer №2

Consider switching the placement of the web font (google) and style CSS files. I did not encounter the same issue when testing on JSFiddle and Codepen, but it's possible that you are experiencing a dependency problem (trying to use the font name before it is loaded).

Alternatively, a more effective solution could be to omit the google font CSS file entirely and instead include an import statement at the top of your style.css file, such as:

@import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato);

I hope this suggestion resolves the issue for you.

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