BEM
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Internet & Web
| Stands for | Block Element Modifier |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
BEM stands for Block Element Modifier, an Internet & web abbreviation.
A CSS class-naming methodology that names components as blocks, their parts as elements and variations as modifiers, as in card, card__title and card--featured. It keeps styles predictable and avoids specificity conflicts in large codebases.
Example: Follow BEM: the button inside the search form should be search-form__button.
Usage notes
Developed at the Russian company Yandex in the late 2000s. Double underscores separate elements and double hyphens mark modifiers. Utility-first frameworks such as Tailwind CSS and scoped styles in component frameworks have reduced reliance on it, but it remains common in design systems.
Related abbreviations
More Internet & web abbreviations
- a11y – Accessibility
- AJAX – Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
- AMP – Accelerated Mobile Pages
- ARIA – Accessible Rich Internet Applications
- ASP – Active Server Pages
- BBS – Bulletin board system
- ccTLD – Country code top-level domain
- CDN – Content delivery network
- CGI – Common Gateway Interface
- CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift
- CMS – Content management system
- CORS – Cross-Origin Resource Sharing