Inline styles can be a quick way to apply CSS directly to an HTML element, but they often lead to several common mistakes that can affect maintainability, performance, and accessibility. Understanding these pitfalls is crucial for any frontend developer aiming to write clean and efficient code.
One of the primary issues with inline styles is that they are not reusable. Each time a style is needed, it must be redefined, leading to code duplication. This can make maintenance difficult, especially in larger projects.
<p style="color: red; font-size: 16px;">This is a paragraph.</p>
<p style="color: red; font-size: 16px;">This is another paragraph.</p>
Instead, using a CSS class can help maintain consistency and reduce redundancy:
<p class="error-message">This is a paragraph.</p>
<p class="error-message">This is another paragraph.</p>
Inline styles have a higher specificity than styles defined in external stylesheets or `