What is the standard naming convention for html/cs

Question

Does it depend on the platform you are using, or is there a common convention that most developers suggest/follow?

There are several options:

1. id="someIdentifier"' - looks pretty consistent with javascript code.
2. id="some-identifier" - looks more like html5-like attributes and other things in html.
3. id="some_identifier" - looks pretty consistent with ruby code and is still a valid identifier inside of Javascript

I was thinking #1 and #3 above make the most sense because they play nicer with Javascript.

Is there a right answer to this?

Answer 1

There is css&html style guide by google, which recommends to always use a hyphen: https://google.github.io/styleguide/htmlcssguide.html#ID_and_Class_Name_Delimiters .

Answer 2

Just one more alternative standard to consider:

<div id="id_name" class="class-name"></div>

And in your script:

var variableName = $("#id_name .class-name");

This just uses a camelCase, under_score, and hyphen-ation respectively for variables, ids, and classes. I've read about this standard on a couple of different websites. Although a little redundant in css/jquery selectors, redundancies make it easier to catch errors. eg: If you see .unknown_name or #unknownName in your CSS file, you know you need to figure out what that's actually referring to.

Answer 3

There isn't one.

I use underscores all the time, due to hyphens messing up the syntax highlighting of my text editor (Gedit), but that's personal preference.

I've seen all these conventions used all over the place. Use the one that you think is best - the one that looks nicest/easiest to read for you, as well as easiest to type because you'll be using it a lot. For example, if you've got your underscore key on the underside of the keyboard (unlikely, but entirely possible), then stick to hyphens. Just go with what is best for yourself. Additionally, all 3 of these conventions are easily readable. If you're working in a team, remember to keep with the team-specified convention (if any).

Update 2012

I've changed how I program over time. I now use camel case (thisIsASelector) instead of hyphens now; I find the latter rather ugly. Use whatever you prefer, which may easily change over time.

Update 2013

It looks like I like to mix things up yearly... After switching to Sublime Text and using Bootstrap for a while, I've gone back to dashes. To me now they look a lot cleaner than un_der_scores or camelCase. My original point still stands though: there isn't a standard.

Update 2015

An interesting corner case with conventions here is Rust. I really like the language, but the compiler will warn you if you define stuff using anything other than underscore_case. You can turn the warning off, but it's interesting the compiler strongly suggests a convention by default. I imagine in larger projects it leads to cleaner code which is no bad thing.

Update 2016 (you asked for it)

I've adopted the BEM standard for my projects going forward. The class names end up being quite verbose, but I think it gives good structure and reusability to the classes and CSS that goes with them. I suppose BEM is actually a standard (so my no becomes a yes perhaps) but it's still up to you what you decide to use in a project. Most importantly: be consistent with what you choose.

Answer 4

Another reason why many prefer hyphens in CSS id and class names is functionality.

Using keyboard shortcuts like option + left/right (or ctrl+left/right on Windows) to traverse code word by word stops the cursor at each dash, allowing you to precisely traverse the id or class name using keyboard shortcuts. Underscores and camelCase do not get detected and the cursor will drift right over them as if it were all one single word.

Answer 5

I suggest you use an underscore instead of a hyphen (-), since ...

<form name="myForm">
  <input name="myInput" id="my-Id" value="myValue"/>
</form>

<script>
  var x = document.myForm.my-Id.value;
  alert(x);
</script>

you can access the value by id easily in like that. But if you use a hyphen it will cause a syntax error.

This is an old sample, but it can work without jquery -:)

thanks to @jean_ralphio, there is work around way to avoid by

var x = document.myForm['my-Id'].value;

Dash-style would be a google code style, but I don't really like it. I would prefer TitleCase for id and camelCase for class.

Answer 6

I just recently started learning XML. The underscore version helps me separate everything XML-related (DOM, XSD, etc.) from programming languages like Java, JavaScript (camel case). And I agree with you that using identifiers which are allowed in programming languages looks better.

Edit: Might be unrelated, but here is a link for rules and recommendations on naming XML elements which I follow when naming ids (sections "XML Naming Rules" and "Best Naming Practices").

http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_elements.asp