Question 1

How to integrate analyze-css into a continuous integration pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Install analyze-css via npm and run it as a CLI command in your build script, using the JSON output to set thresholds or fail builds if metrics exceed limits. The Grunt task mentioned in the README can automate this process for easier integration.

Question 2

analyze-css or Stylelint: which is better for CSS performance?

Accepted Answer

analyze-css is specialized for performance metrics like selector complexity and redundancy, providing detailed offenders, while Stylelint focuses more on code style and consistency rules. For deep performance audits, analyze-css offers more targeted insights, but Stylelint is better for enforcing coding standards.

Question 3

What does 'redundantChildNodesSelectors' mean in analyze-css results?

Accepted Answer

This metric counts selectors like 'ul li' or 'table tr' that are unnecessarily verbose, as child elements are implied. It helps identify opportunities to simplify CSS by removing redundant nesting for better performance and maintainability, as explained in the Metrics section.

Question 4

Can analyze-css handle SCSS or Sass files directly?

Accepted Answer

No, analyze-css only parses raw CSS. To analyze SCSS or Sass, you need to compile them to CSS first and then run analyze-css on the output, as it doesn't support preprocessor syntax natively, which is a limitation for modern workflows.

Question 5

How to ignore SSL errors when analyzing a remote URL with analyze-css?

Accepted Answer

Use the --ignore-ssl-errors option in the CLI to bypass SSL certificate validation when fetching CSS from HTTPS URLs, as shown in the Usage examples. This is useful for testing environments but should be used cautiously in production.

Question 6

What are 'qualified selectors' and why should I care?

Accepted Answer

Qualified selectors, like 'header#nav' or 'h1.title', combine element names with IDs or classes, which can increase specificity and reduce performance. analyze-css reports them to help you write more efficient CSS by avoiding unnecessary qualifiers, based on best practices linked in the README.

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