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CSS Nesting

Native nesting rules without Sass

Nesting rules, the most popular feature of CSS preprocessors like Sass and Less, are now supported natively in CSS. Using the & selector to reference parent context, you can logically group related styles.

It makes CSS files more readable and maintainable without a build process, and is supported in all major browsers.

How to Apply

1

Nest related selectors inside parent rules in existing CSS

2

Explicitly reference parent with & selector

3

Media queries and @supports can also be nested

4

Gradually remove Sass preprocessing dependency

Pros

  • Structured CSS without build tools
  • Removes preprocessor dependency to reduce build time

Cons

  • Excessive nesting can increase selector specificity causing CSS conflicts
  • Cannot replace Sass advanced features like variables and mixins

Use Cases

Cleanly structuring BEM-based component styles Gradual migration from Sass to native CSS

References