Media Query Styles Not Overriding Original Styles

Question

I'm attempting to use some media queries for a website I'm building. The problem I'm having however, is while the media query styles are actually being applied, they're being overridden. I can't for the life of me tell why because I'm using the same exact selectors. Can anyone point out something that I'm not seeing?

ORIGINAL CSS

#global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner {
    width: 85%;
    height: 100%;
    margin: 0 auto;
    position: relative;
}
    #global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner > nav {
        background: #fff;
        padding-bottom: 20px;
        box-shadow: 0 4px 2px -2px gray;
    }

MEDIA QUERY CSS

@media screen and (max-width:1024px) {
    #global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner {
        width: 100%;
    }
    #global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner > nav {
        display: none;
    }
}

The second media query is working fine, where I set the nav to have a display of none. However, when I try to set the width of #global-wrapper-inner to 100% it doesn't apply. I can see the style being "applied" when I press F12 and select that element. However, the style itself is crossed out and not actually applied and it still has the original width of 85%.

Answer 1

You need to link the media query file (queries.css) later than the normal css file (style.css). That way the rules in the queries.css will override those in style.css.

Answer 2

I have been at least 2 hours trying to find the override CSS problem till I found that my line comments where wrong... And the second definition of CSS wasn't working:

So, don't be so stupid as I !:

/* LITTLE SCREENS */ 

@media screen and (max-width: 990px) {
    ... whatever ...
}

/*  BIG SCREENS */ 

@media screen and (min-width: 990px) {
    ... whatever more ...
}

never use: Double bar as I did:

// This is not a comment in CSS!

/* This is a comment in CSS! */

Answer 3

The selectors in your original CSS have the same specificity as the selectors within your media queries (the first declarations are also targeting the same property - width) and because the media query rule set is being overridden I'm going to assume that it appears before the original rule set.

The second media query selector works because it's targeting a property that wasn't set in your original CSS, so specificity isn't relevant.

To have the first media query selector take precedence, prepend an ancestor element to it:

@media screen and (max-width:1024px) {
    body #global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner {
         width: 100%;
    }
    #global-wrapper-outer > #global-wrapper-inner > nav {
        display: none;
    }
}

Answer 4

What about using !important? If you range your media query from ( min-width: 176px ) and ( max-width: 736px ) or even up to 980px?