At this point, what's the point of using BEM in the first place? Why not just do .tag-list__tag.github
You are right, that option is also possible. But for me personally, that wouldn't be BEM modifiers. Plus, in that case, "github" would be considered as a BEM block, which I don't really like.
Also, have you considered modifiers being prefixes of one another? In that case, .tag-list__tag--github would also match a rule like [class*="--git"] if you happen to have both of those, so you'd have to make sure no modifier is a prefix of another.
There are other substring matching selectors. For example, ^ (the end of attribute value) can be used like [class^="--git"] and [class^="--github"], and everything will work. I have shared snippets from my project and I am totally happy with it. However, I do share your concern that this is not a very safe option compared to using preprocessors.
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I've got confused with a thing here when you wrote "would be considered as a block". Maybe I misunderstood something here, but I understand this .tag-list__tag.github to look like this in HTML: <div class="tag-list__tag github" />
Then I don't see how this would result in a new block (or maybe in the css file? 🤔). I think I get something wrong here.
I think what they mean is that in BEM notation, a single class would correspond to a block.
Think of a class like github__element--modifier, where github is the block part; so on its own, github is just the surrounding block level item without any modifiers. I don't use BEM so I might be misunderstanding some of the nuance here.
Thank you for your comment. Indeed, without context, it's hard to understand which block I meant. I have revised the comment a bit, and @darkwiiplayer has described everything correctly as well, thank you!
Overall, BEM is primarily about conventions, and nothing stops you from adapting them to the needs of your project. Personally, in this project where I used this approach, each BEM block is in a different CSS file. If I were to use github as a separate BEM block, I would need to put it in a separate file as well, which I don't like.
A developer with M.Sc. in Computer Science. Working professionally since 2010. In my free time I make music and cook.
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Thank you everyone for the explanation! Once they pointed out "B" is standing for block I understood it immediately.
I also didn't get it as I'm more pragmatic about it; I can tolerate some files containing other things as long as the file is small and no one is reusing the code in it.
It's not so much about tolerating it, but more about the fact that it violates the BEM rules, which state that styles of one block should not be present in the files of another block.
Ideally, CSS would have a selector that combines [attr~=value] and [attr$=value] where you could write [attr~$=value] to match any element where attr is a space-separated list of keywords and one of them ends with value.
That way one could just check [class~$="--modifier"] in a relatively safe way. At that point, the only problem would be .foo-list__foo--test and .bar-list__bar--test would both match the --test selector, but that's probably a good bit less likely.
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Hey @darkwiiplayer !
You are right, that option is also possible. But for me personally, that wouldn't be BEM modifiers. Plus, in that case, "github" would be considered as a BEM block, which I don't really like.
There are other substring matching selectors. For example,
^(the end of attribute value) can be used like[class^="--git"]and[class^="--github"], and everything will work. I have shared snippets from my project and I am totally happy with it. However, I do share your concern that this is not a very safe option compared to using preprocessors.I've got confused with a thing here when you wrote "would be considered as a block". Maybe I misunderstood something here, but I understand this
.tag-list__tag.githubto look like this in HTML:<div class="tag-list__tag github" />Then I don't see how this would result in a new block (or maybe in the
cssfile? 🤔). I think I get something wrong here.I think what they mean is that in BEM notation, a single class would correspond to a block.
Think of a class like
github__element--modifier, wheregithubis the block part; so on its own,githubis just the surrounding block level item without any modifiers. I don't use BEM so I might be misunderstanding some of the nuance here.Hey @latobibor !
Thank you for your comment. Indeed, without context, it's hard to understand which block I meant. I have revised the comment a bit, and @darkwiiplayer has described everything correctly as well, thank you!
Overall, BEM is primarily about conventions, and nothing stops you from adapting them to the needs of your project. Personally, in this project where I used this approach, each BEM block is in a different CSS file. If I were to use
githubas a separate BEM block, I would need to put it in a separate file as well, which I don't like.Thank you everyone for the explanation! Once they pointed out "B" is standing for
blockI understood it immediately.I also didn't get it as I'm more pragmatic about it; I can tolerate some files containing other things as long as the file is small and no one is reusing the code in it.
It's not so much about tolerating it, but more about the fact that it violates the BEM rules, which state that styles of one block should not be present in the files of another block.
Ideally, CSS would have a selector that combines
[attr~=value]and[attr$=value]where you could write[attr~$=value]to match any element whereattris a space-separated list of keywords and one of them ends withvalue.That way one could just check
[class~$="--modifier"]in a relatively safe way. At that point, the only problem would be.foo-list__foo--testand.bar-list__bar--testwould both match the--testselector, but that's probably a good bit less likely.