Remove all styling with one line of CSS (2024)

February 19, 2023 / 5 min read

css

Problem

Many times in your work as a frontend developer you had to create components with custom styles according to creative designs. The default styles of HTML elements like <button /> or <a /> are never the styles we want.

The most common solution to this problem is to override the default styles, for example:

.reset { padding: 0; margin: 0; background: none; border: none; // and so on...}

I used to do that myself until I discovered a much faster and more convenient solution!

Remove all styling

The all: unset CSS property resets all CSS properties to their initial or inherited values. This means that all properties will revert back to the values that were set in the user agent stylesheet or the values that were passed down from the parent element.

Examples

Creating a “reset” class:

.reset { all: unset;}

You can then apply this class to an element when you want to remove all its styles:

<div class="reset">This element has had its styles reset.</div>

Overriding styles applied by JavaScript:

.override { all: unset; background-color: yellow; padding: 10px;}

In this example, you’re using all: unset to remove any styles that were previously applied to an element, and then applying your own styles (in this case, a yellow background and 10px padding).

Resetting styles for a specific section of a page:

.section { all: unset; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; background-color: lightgray; padding: 20px;}

In this example, you’re using all: unset to remove all the styles for a section of a page, and then applying a new set of styles to create a custom layout.

All values of `all` property

The all property is a shorthand property in CSS that sets all of the CSS properties of an element to their initial or inherited values. The all property can take four values: initial, revert, inherit, and unset.

initial: sets all properties to their initial values. The initial value of a property is the value defined by the browser’s CSS stylesheet, or the default value defined in the CSS specification if there is no stylesheet. For example, setting the all property to initial on an element would reset all of its CSS properties to their default values.
revert: sets all properties to their inherited values. Inherited values are passed down from a parent element to its children. For example, if you set the color property of a parent element to red, and then set the all property of a child element to revert, the child element will inherit the color property from its parent and have a color of red.
inherit: sets all properties to the same values as the parent element. For example, if you set the color property of a parent element to red, and then set the all property of a child element to inherit, the child element will have the same color property as its parent and have a color of red.
unset: sets all properties to either their initial values (if they are not inherited) or their inherited values (if they are inherited). This value is similar to revert, but it also resets properties to their initial values if they are not inherited. For example, if you set the color property of a parent element to red, and then set the all property of a child element to unset, the child element will inherit the color property from its parent and have a color of red.

<body> <div> <button class="initial">initial</button> <button class="revert">revert</button> <button class="inherit">inherit</button> <button class="unset">unset</button> </div> <div> <button>unstyled</button> </div></body>

body { background-color: gray; padding: 20px;}div { display: flex; justify-content: center; color: white; gap: 10px;}button { width: 200px; height: 75px; margin: 10px; font-size: 18px; border: 2px solid black;}.initial { all: initial; background-color: lightgray;}.revert { all: revert; background-color: lightblue;}.inherit { all: inherit; background-color: lightgreen;}.unset { all: unset; background-color: lightpink;}

In summary, you can use the all property to reset all of the CSS properties of an element to their initial or inherited values, or to inherit all of the CSS properties from its parent element. The choice of which value to use depends on the specific use case and the desired behavior.

Caveats

There are some caveats to using all: unset, however. First, not all properties are fully reset by all: unset. Some properties, such as display, visibility, and float, are reset to their initial values, while others, such as padding and margin, are not reset at all. Additionally, some properties that are reset by all: unset may have unintended consequences, such as resetting the font size or the background color.

Browser compatibility

The use of the all property is widely supported by modern browsers and is not an issue for most current applications. The only notable exception is Internet Explorer and Opera Mini, which do not support this feature. Nevertheless, it is always advisable to test your code thoroughly in the browsers and devices you plan to target, to ensure that everything works as expected.

Summary

In summary, all: unset can be a useful tool for resetting styles, but it’s important to understand its limitations and to use it with caution.