You can't have spaces in a URL, try changing the space to its ASCII character: %20 so it would look like this:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="new%201.css">

Or what I would normally do is use proper file naming conventions, either camel case (every word [ besides the first one] starts with an upper case letter) or use underscores between the names.

Answer from Haring10 on Stack Overflow
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freeCodeCamp
forum.freecodecamp.org › html-css
External CSS File not Working - HTML-CSS - The freeCodeCamp Forum
January 12, 2025 - I’m trying to understand the structure and syntax for writing external CSS files. I have an HTML file and a CSS file. The HTML file is in a project folder. That folder also contains things I plan to use that will be p…
Discussions

My HTML is partially not recognizing my external CSS file
You forgot ; after font-family. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/css
13
1
June 6, 2025
External CSS not working!
Corey Lyons is having issues with: I'm doing everything else ok but when I get to the part where he does the external style sheet I don't understand why there's nothing happening.... More on teamtreehouse.com
🌐 teamtreehouse.com
7
December 25, 2013
External css is not working, please help?
I have two files, both in the same folder. home.html - linkforthesame styles.css - linkforthesame The external css is not working, please help. More on forum.freecodecamp.org
🌐 forum.freecodecamp.org
0
December 23, 2019
CSS not being applied in pages :/
Hello eveyone, I am new to github. I’ve been following tutoials etc on how to set up pages. Now, i’m trying to move my codepen HTML and CSS over here. HTML is working, but CSS is not being applied.... More on github.com
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30
83
June 10, 2020
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Sololearn
sololearn.com › en › Discuss › 2174843 › why-is-my-external-css-not-working
Why is my External CSS not working? | Sololearn: Learn to code for FREE!
@Gordon Just figured it out from your first answer! I don't really know how it worked but after changing a few names, it worked. Thanks! ... Check your link very well most times spelling errors or not properly addressing the link according to how you save your documents
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/css › my html is partially not recognizing my external css file
r/css on Reddit: My HTML is partially not recognizing my external CSS file
June 6, 2025 -

[SOLVED]

Hello! As of yesterday, I am currently learning HTML and CSS to create my own personal website on neocities. I use Phoenix Code editor (future generation of Brackets) to write these codes, so since it's a relatively new editor software, I presume that not many people here are familiar with it. Therefore, I just hope it's got nothing to do with the program itself, and it's just something in general that I as a newbie have overlooked.

I have followed w3schools HTML and CSS tutorials closely, so I'm 90% sure my code is written correctly, and something else outside it is maybe the issue here. Edit: Nope, I wrote something wrong lol. Thanks to u/ole1993 for the quick answer!

The HTML and CSS files should be linked correctly, writing this in my HTML document:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"/> , with the file named "style" and the extension "css". Located in the same directory.

CSS file working with color, but not font size or font family

Here's a video of the CSS file not working as should; I can change the colors, but I *can't* change the font-size and font-family? Why?

Here are what my codes look like:

HTML:

<!doctype html>
<!-- Color cheat sheet:
Reseda green: 677C5F, Feldgrau: 4B5C47, Baby powder: FEFEFC, Vanilla: FFF5AD
Puce: D07B8E, Pink lavender: F1BBDD, Moss green: 8D9440 -->
<html lang>
<head>
<title>EllenPlayz</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>My personal website</h1>
<p>Welcome to my corner of the internet!</p>
<p>
<a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/cats-kxFxG0D#/t/wallpaper"
>Click here to check this cool picture of a cat</a
>
</p>
<h2>Interests</h2>
<ul>
<li>Digital Art</li>
<li>Rock music</li>
<li><a href="https://i.imgur.com/i5z74E2.jpeg">Pretty flowers</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Types of games I love</h2>
<ul>
<li>Flash games</li>
<li>Ps2 games</li>
<li>CD-Roms</li>
</ul>
<img
src="images/EltonPixel.gif"
width="200px"
height="200px" />
</body>
</html>

CSS (style.css)

body {
    font-family: arial
    font-size 16px;
    color: #8d9440;
    background-color: #fff5ad;
}
h1 {
    color: #c7647a;
    background-color: #f1bbdd;
}
h2 {
    font-size: 1.5em;
    color: #677c5f;
    background-color: #bee270;
    margin: 10px;
    padding: 10px;
}

All help or input is greatly appreciated, and let me know if I lack any important context for information. Thank you!

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Raspberry Pi Forums
forums.raspberrypi.com › board index › programming › other programming languages
External CSS Sheet Not Applying - Raspberry Pi Forums
If there is anything it cannot download, like your CSS file, it will show an error and indicate what it is trying to fetch from your servers. That will help you fix your problem. Meanwhile if you watch the access and error log files of your web server when you try to load that page you will see what files your server thinks it was asked for and what errors it returned if it could not find them. With all that information in hand you will be able to get it to work.
Find elsewhere
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DaniWeb
daniweb.com › digital-media › ui-ux-design › threads › 479695 › external-style-sheet-not-working-in-html-php
web design - external style sheet not working in html/php [SOLVED] | DaniWeb
May 31, 2014 - If there are errors related to loading the external style sheet, the error will be listed there. — JorgeM 958 Jump to Post · <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bground.css"> A lot of times when that doesn't work for me, I would put the css file in a server and then rewriting it as: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yoursite.com/css/bground.css"> — <M/> 170 Jump to Post
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freeCodeCamp
forum.freecodecamp.org › t › external-css-is-not-working-please-help › 358531
External css is not working, please help? - The freeCodeCamp Forum
December 23, 2019 - I have two files, both in the same folder. home.html - linkforthesame styles.css - linkforthesame The external css is not working, please help.
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GitHub
github.com › orgs › community › discussions › 22495
CSS not being applied in pages :/ · community · Discussion #22495
June 10, 2020 - I just had a similar problem, the names of my CSS and JS files started with _. Normally it works without any problems, but such a problem occurred on Github.io. As a solution, I fixed it by deleting the _ character at the beginning of the file names...
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Django Forum
forum.djangoproject.com › using django › templates & frontend
Some CSS Styles Not Loading, Others Fine - Templates & Frontend - Django Forum
January 10, 2023 - Hi all - For some reason I am having a VERY strange problem where some of my CSS is working via my static directory but some isn’t The weird part about it is that when my coworker clones the repo himself it works perfectly fine on his PC Here is the code itself Particularly having problems with index.html - I intentionally commented out the tags so that it is only pulling style from styles.css When I uncomment the tags in index.html everything works and looks perfect, but when I try to pu...
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Alyamanalhayekdesign
alyamanalhayekdesign.com › home › why won’t my css link to my html?
Why Won't My CSS Link to My HTML? - Alyaman Alhayek Design
July 1, 2021 - If you are linking or importing an external style sheet, like CSS, make sure that there is no HTML coding on that style sheet, even if you want to include HTML-related comments. Source · If you make sure that the HTML coding is where it should ...
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Quora
quora.com › Why-is-my-CSS-not-linking-to-my-HTML-I-ve-put-link-rel-stylesheet-href-CSS-mystyle-CSS-but-it-still-will-not-work
Why is my CSS not linking to my HTML? I’ve put , but it still will not work. - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): Hi. I currently had the same issue. so I had a general folder X, where all my files are. Then I had a folder css and html for those file types respectively. Now the directories could be simplified as: desktop -> X -> css desktop -> X -> html Now if you want to acess a css file ...
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meyerweb
meyerweb.com › eric › articles › webrev › 199904.html
Help! My CSS Isn't Working!
Rip it out, delete it, or turn it into a CSS comment, like the first line of the file. Thus, the "new styles below" comment should look like this: ... Don't do this! You need the STYLE tag when you're embedding a stylesheet in an HTML document, it's true, but this tag should not-- indeed, cannot-- appear in an external stylesheet.
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SAP Community
community.sap.com › t5 › technology-q-a › external-css-stylesheet-not-loading › qaq-p › 12477927
External CSS / Stylesheet not loading. - SAP Community
October 12, 2021 - Css file was loaded But not reflecting. ... Please send your contact mail id for further information about my issue. ... Hi Jegathiswaran, as Margot already pointed out, it won't work if you include your css/js inside of the index.html.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/css › why is it when i use this css code in my external css file it does not work at all, however if i use it as an internal edit, it works just fine.
r/css on Reddit: Why is it when I use this CSS code in my external CSS file it does not work at all, however if I use it as an internal <style> edit, it works just fine.
January 12, 2019 -
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <title>Practice Site</title>
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="reset.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="debug.css">
        <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Nunito" rel="stylesheet"> 
    </head>
    <body>
        <article>
            <p class="debug-centre">ARTICLE</p>
        </article>
        <article>
            <p class="debug-centre">ARTICLE</p>
        </article>
        <article>
            <p class="debug-centre">ARTICLE</p>
        </article>
    </body>
</html>

This is the HTML to my website titled index.html

article {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 1fr minmax(0, 8.5in) 1fr;
    height: 100vh; /* temp fix */
    padding: 0.5in 0;
    }

article * {
    grid-column: 2/3;
}

And this is my external stylesheet style.css

Now, when I try to add padding to the <article> via my external CSS it does not work, even with the identical code. It only works if I copy paste it into the HTML file using <script>.

How can I fix this, and why does this happen?

🌐
DhiWise
dhiwise.com › post › why-is-my-css-not-linking-to-my-html-troubleshooting-guide
Why is My CSS Not Linking to My HTML:Solved
October 10, 2024 - Forgetting to close the <link> tag or mistyping the file path are just the tip of the iceberg. Ensure you’re not placing the <link> tag in the wrong section of your HTML document and that you’re using the correct file extension.
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Tibco
docs.tibco.com › pub › wf-wf › 9.3.1 › doc › html › 910-crlang › ExternalCSS204.htm
Troubleshooting External Cascading Style Sheets
Solution: Click your browser Refresh button (Microsoft Internet Explorer) to reload the CSS file from the web server. This ensures that your web browser will use the most current version of the cascading style sheet to format the report. Symptom: The report is not using any of the cascading ...
🌐
SitePoint
sitepoint.com › html & css
My stylesheet is not working - HTML & CSS - SitePoint Forums | Web Development & Design Community
September 11, 2017 - When i design web page i locally specify styles within the in head section later i will cut & paste in other file(“style.css”) using ( link rel=“stylesheet” type=“text/css” href=“style.css” ) but it wont work.we can call styles using other files & locally using in head section & also within the tags(“
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Webflow
discourse.webflow.com › design help › custom code
Shared Library CSS not working - Custom code - Forum | Webflow
September 13, 2025 - Hello Webflow Forum, I’m currently experiencing a strange issue with shared libraries in Webflow. Normally, a shared library class gets a prefix from the shared library. In this case: workerhero-b2b–. But over the weekend, this prefix suddenly disappeared.