What is Purgecss?
Purgecss is an advanced tool designed to remove unused CSS selectors from your stylesheets, ensuring that only the necessary styles are included in the final build. When using CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, it's common to import a large set of styles that might not all be utilized in your project. Purgecss addresses this issue by scanning your codebase, identifying unused styles, and stripping them out, leading to leaner and more efficient CSS files.
Key Core Functions
Scans Codebase: Purgecss examines your HTML, JavaScript, and template files to identify which CSS selectors are actually being used.
Removes Unused Styles: It then eliminates any CSS rules that do not correspond to these used selectors, thus minimizing the final CSS file size.
Supports Various Formats: It works seamlessly with different file types, including HTML, JavaScript, and templating languages like Handlebars or Vue templates.
Use Cases and Applications
Website Optimization: For projects using large CSS frameworks, Purgecss ensures that only the necessary styles are included, reducing the overall file size and improving load times.
E-commerce Platforms: In e-commerce websites, where multiple pages and components require varied styling, Purgecss helps in maintaining a clean and optimized stylesheet, enhancing performance.
Single Page Applications (SPAs): SPAs often benefit from dynamic content loading, and Purgecss ensures that the CSS remains lightweight and efficient, even as the application grows in complexity.
By leveraging Purgecss, developers can achieve significant reductions in CSS file sizes, leading to faster load times and improved user experiences.