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Talking CSS: Thing You May Not Know
Episode 10 • 5th October 2024 • Business Ignite Podcast • Business Ignite Podcast
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Unlocking Hidden CSS Secrets for Ultimate Web Design Mastery

In this episode of the Business Ignite podcast, hosts Ethan Walker and Samantha Reed explore advanced CSS techniques that can elevate your web design skills. They delve into lesser-known tricks like using the border-radius slash syntax for custom corners, the outline-offset property for debugging layouts, and the efficiency of the display: table-layout property. They also discuss the importance of code organization, the magic of pseudo-elements, and the implications of case sensitivity in CSS. The episode concludes with a thought-provoking discussion on the continuous learning required to stay ahead in web development.

00:00 Welcome to the Business Ignite Podcast

00:17 Diving into Advanced CSS Techniques

00:53 Mastering Curved Corners in CSS

01:31 Debugging Layouts with Outline Offset

01:58 Understanding Table Layouts

02:47 Organizing CSS with Invalid Characters

03:31 Adding Visual Flair with Animations

04:01 Exploring Pseudo Elements

04:35 Case Sensitivity in CSS

05:13 The Quirks of Vertical Align

05:58 Inheritance and the Color Property

06:31 The Mystery of Visibility: Collapse

07:35 Reflecting on the Depths of CSS

09:01 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

Resources:

  • Little Known Facts About CSS - CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a powerful tool for web design, controlling the layout, colors, and overall presentation of a website. Some lesser-known facts include the ability to create animations, responsive designs, and even control font styles without additional code. Understanding the depth of CSS can help developers create more dynamic, visually appealing websites with greater flexibility. https://www.95visual.com/resources/articles/little-known-facts-about-css

Social Media:

Transcripts

Speaker:

Welcome back to the business ignite podcast, where we light the fire

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for business growth and marketing success.

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Your hosts, Ethan Walker, Samantha Reed,

bring you the latest trends, expert

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insights, and actionable strategies

to fuel your business journey.

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Let's ignite your potential.

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Samantha Reed: All right,

buckle up, everyone.

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Cause we're about to dive into

some seriously next level CSS.

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Ethan Walker: Ooh, I

like where this is going.

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Samantha Reed: Even if you think

you've got a handle on cascading

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style sheets, trust me, this deep

dive is going to unearth some gems.

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Ethan Walker: Hidden depths, you say?

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Samantha Reed: Oh, absolutely.

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Today's source material

is a real eye opener.

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Little known facts about CSS by

Joshua Maddox from 95 visual.

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Ethan Walker: They're all about

that sweet spot where design

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meets strategy, a winning combo.

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Samantha Reed: Right.

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And this article doesn't disappoint.

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Ready to uncover some CSS tricks

that'll make your fellow devs

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go, Whoa, how'd they do that?

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Ethan Walker: I'm all ears.

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Hit me with it.

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Samantha Reed: Okay, let's start with

something that sounds deceptively simple.

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Curved corners.

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Ethan Walker: Ah, see, even something as

basic as a curved corner, there's a whole

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lot of potential hiding under the surface.

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Samantha Reed: So true.

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Most folks, they just use a single

value for their border radius, right?

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Ethan Walker: Right, but here's where

it gets interesting, that slash syntax.

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Samantha Reed: You mean, where

you can control the horizontal

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and vertical radii separately?

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Ethan Walker: Bingo.

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It's like having this fine tuned

control over the curvature.

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Yeah.

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Almost like using a design program

but, you know, within your CSS.

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Samantha Reed: Now that's what

I call sweating the details.

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Ethan Walker: You can create some truly

unique shapes and effects that go way

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beyond your average rounded corner.

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Samantha Reed: And speaking of

details, this next one's a game

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changer, especially if you've ever

grappled with layout debugging.

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I'm talking about the

outline offset property.

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Ethan Walker: Ah, debugging.

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The bane of every

developer's existence, right?

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Tell

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Samantha Reed: me about it.

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But this property, it's like magic.

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You can visually separate an element

from its outline so you instantly see

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any overlaps or fine tuned spacing.

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Ethan Walker: It's all about giving

your element some breathing room.

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Visually speaking, a lifesaver

for those intricate layouts.

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Samantha Reed: And while we're on

the topic of layouts, how about

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we untangle the world of tables?

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Ethan Walker: Oh, tables.

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Always a fun one.

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Samantha Reed: Because, you know, I

was today years old when I learned

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there's a difference between display,

table, and the table layout property.

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Ethan Walker: Yeah,

most folks use display.

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Table to style elements to look like

tables, which is perfectly fine.

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But table layout, that's

where the real power lies.

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You're not just styling how it

looks, you're influencing how the

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browser actually renders that table.

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Samantha Reed: It's like you're

speaking directly to the browser's soul.

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Ethan Walker: Ha ha, in a way.

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For instance, if you go with

the fixed layout, that can

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dramatically speed up rendering,

especially for data heavy tables.

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Samantha Reed: And that, my

friends, is music to my ears.

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Anything that makes websites

faster, I am here for it.

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But let's not forget about

making our code look good, too.

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Ethan Walker: Oh, absolutely.

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Gotta keep things clean.

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Samantha Reed: This next one blew my mind.

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Using those invalid characters

like slashes or asterisks to

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visually group CSS classes.

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It's organizational genius.

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Ethan Walker: It seems

like such a small thing.

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But seriously, it does

wonders for code readability.

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Think of it this way.

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You walk into a library where every

book's just, like, scattered about.

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Total chaos.

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Don't

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Samantha Reed: even get me

started on disorganized libraries.

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Nightmare fuel.

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Ethan Walker: Exactly.

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Now imagine that same library.

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But everything's neatly organized,

clearly labeled a dream.

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That's what this technique

does for your code.

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And let me tell you, that

kind of clarity is priceless.

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Especially when you're collaborating

with others or, you know, revisiting

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your own code after a while.

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Samantha Reed: It's all about making

your code scannable at a glance.

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Ethan Walker: Precisely.

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Samantha Reed: Okay, ready

for some visual flair?

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Let's talk animation.

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Specifically those fractional values you

can use with animation iteration count.

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Ethan Walker: Most people just

think of animations repeating a

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whole number of times, which, hey,

works great for lots of situations.

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Samantha Reed: Right, totally.

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Ethan Walker: But sometimes, you

need that extra level of control, and

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that's where fractional values come in.

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Imagine an animation that needs to

run for, say, two and a half cycles.

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Samantha Reed: Okay, I'm picturing it.

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Ethan Walker: Fractional values

make it happen, no sweat.

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Samantha Reed: So smooth.

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Now prepare to have your mind blown.

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Pseudo elements.

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Styling content that's not

even directly in your HTML?

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That feels like CSS sorcery to me.

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Uh huh,

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Ethan Walker: it does feel

kind of magical, right?

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Totally.

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Ever seen that elegant drop cap effect?

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You know, where the first letter

of a paragraph is styled all fancy?

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That's pseudo elements in action.

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It's about elevating the visual

presentation, making the reading

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experience more engaging,

and honestly borrowing a page

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from classic print design.

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Samantha Reed: I love that link

between web design and print history.

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So cool.

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And speaking of history,

I have a confession.

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Ethan Walker: Hit me

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Samantha Reed: with it.

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Case sensitivity in CSS.

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Had absolutely no idea

it was even a thing.

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Ethan Walker: It's one of those things

that often trips people up, especially

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since in most modern web dev, we're

all about that lowercase consistency.

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Samantha Reed: Lowercase for life.

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Ethan Walker: Right.

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But knowing the case can matter,

especially in specific scenarios like

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XHTML versus HTML, that knowledge can save

you from a world of debugging headaches.

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Samantha Reed: It's a good reminder

that even in the world of code,

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where things seem so black and

white, there are these quirks, these

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echoes of how things used to be.

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Ethan Walker: Absolutely.

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And while we're on the subject

of quirks, CSS property that

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seems to cause endless confusion?

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Vertical align.

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Samantha Reed: Ooh, I've

heard whispers of this one.

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Sounds straightforward, but I know

it has a reputation for being,

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well, a bit of a troublemaker.

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Ethan Walker: It all boils down to this.

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Vertical align acts very differently

inside table cells versus outside of them.

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It's like it has two completely

different personalities.

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Samantha Reed: It's kind of funny, right?

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A property called vertical

align, you'd think it would just

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work vertically no matter what.

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Ethan Walker: You'd

think so, wouldn't you?

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But tables, they always

gotta be special cases.

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Samantha Reed: So before we move on,

any other gotchas when it comes to this?

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Tricky vertical align?

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Ethan Walker: Honestly, the main takeaway

is, table cells, that's where it shines.

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Anywhere else, and you're

in for a wild ride.

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Experiment, test, test

again, you know the drill.

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Samantha Reed: Always test,

golden rule of web dev.

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Ethan Walker: Truth.

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And speaking of things with hidden

depths, did you know the color property?

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It's not just for styling text.

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Samantha Reed: Wait, what?

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Seriously?

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I've literally only ever used it for text.

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Ethan Walker: It's easy to think

of it that way, but it actually

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plays into inheritance too.

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Let's say you get a button you're styling.

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Instead of, like, separately

defining the border color,

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you can just do border color.

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Inherit.

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Boom.

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It inherits the color

from its parent element.

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Saves you code, keeps

things consistent, win win.

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Samantha Reed: Oh, that's elegant.

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Love me some efficient code.

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Okay, last but not least, we've got what

sounds like a mythical CSS creature.

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The collapse value for

the visibility property.

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I gotta be honest, this one

has me completely stumped.

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Ethan Walker: Yeah, it's definitely

one of the lesser known values and

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it gets a little tricky because

we're getting into how the browser

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actually renders things, you know.

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Samantha Reed: Down to the nitty gritty.

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Ethan Walker: Exactly.

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Now, we all know visibility.

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Yeah.

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Hidden or display?

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None make stuff disappear, right?

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Poof.

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Done.

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But they do it in slightly different ways.

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Think of visibility.

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Collapse as like a super

specialized version of display.

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None, but for table elements specifically.

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Samantha Reed: Okay, so if I use

it on a table cell, what happens?

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How does it affect the layout around it?

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Ethan Walker: So imagine you've got

a table row, and you use display.

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None on one of the cells.

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That entire cell is out of there,

and the remaining cells, they kind

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of redistribute to fill that gap.

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Samantha Reed: Makes sense.

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Ethan Walker: So you use visibility,

collapse on that same cell.

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It's like the cell just folds in

on itself without messing with the

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layout of the other cells around it.

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The space it took up, completely gone.

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Samantha Reed: Whoa, that's wild.

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It's like collapse is way more

precise, like a surgical removal.

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Man, this just makes me realize

how much I don't know about CSS.

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It's humbling, really.

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Ethan Walker: Isn't it amazing, though?

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There's always something new to

discover, even for us seasoned folks.

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This field, it never sits still, which

is part of what makes it so exciting.

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Gotta keep learning, keep exploring.

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Samantha Reed: So true.

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And for everyone listening,

think about how you can use these

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hidden gems in your own projects.

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Ethan Walker: Right.

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Put them to work.

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Samantha Reed: Want those super

smooth, custom curved corners?

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We've given you the secret formula.

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Need to debug your layouts like a pro?

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Outline Offset is your new best friend.

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And who can resist playing with

fractional animation values?

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Your web animations

will never be the same.

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Ethan Walker: Out of all

these CSS secrets, which one

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are you most excited to try?

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What really got your gears turning?

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Samantha Reed: It really makes you

realize, huh, even something like

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CSS, which we use all the time,

still has these hidden depths.

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Ethan Walker: It's kind

of mind blowing, right?

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Just goes to show there's always

something new to uncover no

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matter how long you've been at it.

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Samantha Reed: And that's

what I love about this field.

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It keeps you on your toes.

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This deep dives just

reinforce that for me.

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It's not just about like memorizing code.

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It's about understanding the why,

the how, the history behind it all.

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It gives you a whole new

appreciation, you know?

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Ethan Walker: It's like we peek behind the

curtain and seeing how the magic happens.

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Samantha Reed: Exactly.

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And that's what I hope

listeners take away from this.

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Don't be afraid to dig deeper, even in

areas you think you've got figured out.

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Ethan Walker: Curiosity is key.

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Always be asking those what if questions.

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Samantha Reed: So as we wrap

up our CSS adventure, here's a

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thought I've been wrestling with.

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If CSS, with all its rules and quirks,

still has these surprises in store,

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what other areas of knowledge, things

we think we know inside and out, could

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benefit from this kind of deep dive?

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Ethan Walker: Ooh, that's a good one.

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What assumptions are we carrying

around that maybe, with a fresh

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perspective, could be challenged or

even completely flipped on their head?

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Samantha Reed: Right.

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It's a thought provoking

question for sure.

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Well, on that note, keep those browsers

coding and those minds curious.

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Until next time, everyone.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning

into the Business Ignite podcast,

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where we fuel your business

growth and marketing success.

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If you enjoyed today's episode,

be sure to rate and review us.

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It does help others find the show.

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Don't forget to follow us on social

media at Business Ignite podcast and

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share this episode with a friend.

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Keep the fire burning and remember,

your success is just one strategy away.

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Until next time, stay ignited.

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