Why is my CSS file one long line?

Your CSS file is 'minified' . This is a common practice for production websites to reduce file size and make the site load faster. All unnecessary whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) is removed. You can paste that code into our CSS formatter to 'beautify' it and make it readable again.

What is the difference between formatting and minifying CSS?

Formatting (beautifying) adds whitespace to make CSS human-readable for development and debugging. Minifying removes all unnecessary whitespace to create the smallest possible file size for production, which improves your website's load time.

CSS Formatter, Validator & Beautifier

Format, minify, and validate CSS stylesheets instantly.

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All CSS formatting and minification happens in your browser.
Your stylesheets and CSS code are never stored or sent to our servers.
It's safe to use with any project's code.

What is a CSS Formatter? (Beautify vs. Minify)

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is the language that styles the entire web. As projects grow, CSS files can become thousands of lines long, often compressed into a single, unreadable line to save space (a process called "minification").

A CSS Formatter (or CSS Beautifier) is a tool that reverses this. It takes messy or minified CSS and intelligently adds line breaks, spacing, and indentation. This makes the code readable, separating selectors, properties, and media queries.

This tool is essential for web developers for:

Debugging: Instantly find syntax errors, unclosed brackets }, or incorrect selector logic.
Readability: Easily understand the structure, especially with nested selectors (like in SASS/SCSS) or complex media queries.
Optimization: Use the CSS Minifier option to compress your beautified code back into the smallest possible file for production, improving your site's load speed.

This tool also acts as a basic CSS Validator or "CSS Lint", highlighting syntax errors it finds during the formatting process.

CSS Formatting Examples

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CSS Best Practices & Key Concepts

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Always Minify for Production

While you should write readable, formatted CSS in development, you must always minify your CSS files before deploying to production. This drastically reduces file size, leading to faster page loads and better Lighthouse scores. Use our "Minify" button for this.

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Understand Specificity

CSS isn't just about what you write, but *where*. Specificity is the algorithm the browser uses to decide which style rule applies. An #id selector beats a .class selector, which beats a tag selector. Formatting your code helps you visualize this hierarchy.

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Use Media Queries Wisely

Media queries (e.g., @media (max-width: 600px) { ... }) are essential for responsive design. A good formatter will properly indent the rules *inside* the media query block, making it much easier to manage your mobile, tablet, and desktop styles in one file.