When designing the base styles for a site, one should strive to address all

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Asked: May 16, 20262026-05-16T03:19:22+00:00 2026-05-16T03:19:22+00:00

When designing the base styles for a site, one should strive to address all

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When designing the base styles for a site, one should strive to address all of the different HTML elements that could come into use. This is especially true when developing a skin for a CMS where the admin’s WYSIWYG editor might introduce elements you hadn’t planned on (strong, em, strike… etc).

What is a list of HTML elements that any reasonably comprehensive stylesheet should address?

I’m assuming this is in a situation where you either can’t rely on browser defaults or are using a reset style sheet.

The answer I’m looking for is either an existing resource or article where somebody seems to solve this. Or, a CMS theme that does a particularly good job of handling a variety of elements.

I supposed we could also build a definitive list here if those resources don’t exist or are inconsistent.

Notes

1) This may belong in community wiki, and I’ll move it there if that’s the consensus. However, I believe this is a specific problem with a concrete answer.

2) Almost wanted to move this to Doctype, but I don’t think this is a design question. It’s a development question.

3) This isn’t about when and why you should use an element but about what elements you should be prepared to handle.