Inline @media print CSS shouldn't be inline anymore

[danwood]

I'm submitting a ...

• bug report
• feature request
• other (Please do not submit support requests here (below))

In version 8 of HTML5Boilerplate, the print styles are inlined using @media print with this comment above:

/* ==========================================================================
   Print styles.
   Inlined to avoid the additional HTTP request:
   https://www.phpied.com/delay-loading-your-print-css/
   ========================================================================== */

The article, from 2007, does not seem relevant anymore. Many CSS developers are taking advantage of the fact that print-media stylesheets are now loaded asynchronously. (I don't find any specification for this, but it seems to be common practice now, and I see a reference to the async nature of print style sheets at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/CSS)

So … I think it might be a good idea to separate out the print CSS into a separate file, loaded separately and asynchronously, to allow the main.css file to be a bit smaller, which speeds up initial page load.

[coliff]

I'm not too sure about this. If the print styles were separate it'd mean a very slight increase in the number of bytes sent over HTTP (as two CSS files compress less than one combined). It also means a very slight increase in the page weight of the HTML on every page of your site (by adding <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/print.css" media="print">).

The print styles CSS in main.css is just 319 bytes (gzipped and minified) - which is tiny, it's easier and quicker to just include them in the main stylesheet.

[roblarsen]

I'm going with @coliff on this one. Thanks for reporting this.