Explain nesting and grouping in CSS
Last Updated :
09 Jan, 2025
The Nesting & Grouping concepts in CSS is used to write efficient and precise code. These techniques help reduce the amount of code, improving page load times and overall readability.
Here, we will explore how nesting and grouping can optimize your code, enhance readability, and increase efficiency.
Understanding Nesting in CSS
Nesting in CSS allows you to nest one style rule inside another. The child rule’s selector is relative to the parent rule’s selector. This method enhances the modularity and maintainability of CSS stylesheets, making the code more readable.
Syntax:
class1_selector class2_selector id_selector {
property: value;
}
Example:
table tr th {
background-color: beige;
}
Approach:
- Select the id/class selector & add a space to separate one from the other.
- Add the style properties for the elements.
Note: Be specific with the order of nesting.
Example: In this example, we will nest the <a> tag inside the <p> tag and <th> tag inside the <tr> tag.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p a {
color: green;
}
table tr th {
background-color: beige;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a
<a href="https://ide.geeksforgeeks.org/">link</a>
within a paragraph element.
</p>
<table style="width: 100%">
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ram</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rahul</td>
<td>65</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Vikram</td>
<td>26</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Output: We got <a> tag as green color and <th> of beige color using nesting.

nesting
Understanding Grouping in CSS
Grouping allows you to apply common styling properties to multiple elements at once. This reduces the length of your code, makes it easier to read, and speeds up page load times.
selector1, selector2 {
property: value;
}
Example (Without Grouping):
Instead of writing this long code, specifying the same properties to different selectors:
h1 {
padding: 5px;
color: grey;
}
p {
padding: 5px;
color: grey;
}
We can group them and write like this & we need the comma(,) to group the various selectors.
h1, p {
padding: 5px;
color: grey;
}
Approach:
- Add <style>tag inside <head> tag.
- Add various tags inside <body> tag with content.
- Inside <style> tag, we can group our selectors containing the same properties.
Example: In this example, we will group various selectors together.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1, h2, p, a {
text-align: center;
color: green;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>GeeksForGeeks</h1>
<h2>Smaller heading!</h2>
<p>This is
<a href="https://ide.geeksforgeeks.org/">
anchor tag
</a>
</p>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:

grouped selectors with the same properties
Difference between Nesting & Grouping
Nesting | Grouping |
---|
Nesting property facilitates nesting one style rule inside another, with the selector of the child rule that is relative to the selector of the parent rule.
| Grouping property provides the same properties with values to a number of selectors at a time.
|
It may help to simplify & manage the properties for the different elements at a time but It may be complicated if the number of nesting elements that contain the same properties, is increased. It may be difficult to manage such a nesting property.
| It is simple to apply the properties to the number of different elements at a time & can be managed easily.
|
In this case, if we need to modify the property for any specific element ie, either the parent element or child element in CSS, we need to change it manually for that specific element, if it is in nesting. For large-size code, it may be an inefficient way to manage the CSS properties.
| There are no restrictions as such in the grouping.
|
Similar Reads
Explain the working of calc() function in CSS
The calc() function in CSS allows for dynamic calculations within property values, combining different units and mathematical operations. It enhances flexibility and responsiveness in layouts by enabling precise control over dimensions and spacing. Working of calc() functionThe calc() function in CS
3 min read
Foundation CSS Button Group Stacking
Foundation CSS is an open-source & responsive front-end framework built by ZURB foundation in September 2011, that makes it easy to design beautiful responsive websites, apps, and emails that look amazing & can be accessible to any device. It is used by many companies such as Facebook, eBay,
3 min read
Foundation CSS Button Group Sizing
Foundation CSS is an open-source & responsive front-end framework built by ZURB foundation in September 2011, that makes it easy to design beautiful responsive websites, apps, and emails that look amazing & can be accessible to any device. It is used by many companies such as Facebook, eBay,
3 min read
Explain the Typography and links in Bootstrap?
In this article, we will see the Typography & the Links In Bootstrap, along with understanding their basic implementation through the examples. Bootstrap Typography facilitates the different styling and formatting of text content, along with providing customization which includes customized head
2 min read
How to set padding around an element using CSS ?
In this article, we will learn How to set the padding around an element using CSS. Approach: The padding is the space between the content of the element and its boundaries. We can set the padding around an element using the padding property of the CSS. It takes four values top_padding, right_padding
1 min read
Explain the term âpseudo-classâ in CSS3
Cascading Style Sheets referred to as CSS is a stylesheet language used to design and describe the presentation of the webpage to make it attractive. The main use of CSS is to simplify the process of making web pages presentable. The way elements should be rendered on screen is described by CSS. CSS
4 min read
Explain the positions property in CSS
In this article, we will see what is position property, and how to use this property wisely in order to make web pages. The CSS position property is used to align the different elements in the HTML page. CSS position property plays an important role to make high-quality web pages. The CSS position p
6 min read
Explain CSS vendor prefixes
The process of introducing new CSS properties and HTML elements can be long and convoluted. Sometimes changes are proposed by standards committees (like the World wide web consortium (W3C)) and other times browser vendors create their properties. A property created by the W3C doesn't work until brow
3 min read
How CSS Positioning and Flexbox Work?
CSS positioning and Flexbox are fundamental tools for web layout and design. Understanding how they work can help you create more responsive and well-structured web pages. CSS positioning allows you to control the placement of elements on the web page. There are several positioning schemes in CSS. T
5 min read
Explain the concept of specificity in CSS
Prerequisites: CSS syntax and selectors , HTML basics Specificity is an advanced algorithm used by HTML browsers to define the CSS declaration which will be the most appropriate to an HTML element. It basically calculates the weights of all the CSS selectors to determine the proper rule. The main go
3 min read