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CSS Units (em, rem) vs Percentages

Developers should use em and rem units when building responsive websites that need to adapt to different screen sizes or user font-size settings, as they provide flexibility and consistency across devices meets developers should learn percentages for tasks like calculating discounts in e-commerce applications, displaying progress indicators in user interfaces, and analyzing data trends in analytics tools. Here's our take.

🧊Nice Pick

CSS Units (em, rem)

Developers should use em and rem units when building responsive websites that need to adapt to different screen sizes or user font-size settings, as they provide flexibility and consistency across devices

CSS Units (em, rem)

Nice Pick

Developers should use em and rem units when building responsive websites that need to adapt to different screen sizes or user font-size settings, as they provide flexibility and consistency across devices

Pros

  • +Em is ideal for component-level styling where sizes should scale with local context, while rem is preferred for global sizing to maintain a consistent scale throughout the document, reducing complexity in CSS
  • +Related to: css, responsive-design

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Percentages

Developers should learn percentages for tasks like calculating discounts in e-commerce applications, displaying progress indicators in user interfaces, and analyzing data trends in analytics tools

Pros

  • +They are crucial in financial software for interest rates, in game development for health bars, and in responsive design for layout proportions
  • +Related to: mathematics, data-analysis

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use CSS Units (em, rem) if: You want em is ideal for component-level styling where sizes should scale with local context, while rem is preferred for global sizing to maintain a consistent scale throughout the document, reducing complexity in css and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Percentages if: You prioritize they are crucial in financial software for interest rates, in game development for health bars, and in responsive design for layout proportions over what CSS Units (em, rem) offers.

🧊
The Bottom Line
CSS Units (em, rem) wins

Developers should use em and rem units when building responsive websites that need to adapt to different screen sizes or user font-size settings, as they provide flexibility and consistency across devices

Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev