---
name: SCSS file organization — don't kitchen-sink into the most recently-touched file
description: Steward caught 2026-04-28 evening — across the day's apparatus work I added .preface, .section-break, .sequence-marker, and was about to add .sequence-index-* styles all to `_sidenotes.scss` because that's the file I had been editing. The file's own header declared its scope as §XII + §XII.b. I was violating that declared scope by aggregation. Steward verbatim: *"why in sidenotes.scss?"*
type: feedback
originSessionId: e5a1fa7c-cae6-49c4-8678-e27ce379639b
permalink: claude-memory/feedback-scss-file-organization-not-kitchen-sink
---
**Pattern caught**: when adding new CSS rules in a focused work session, I default to dropping them in the most recently-touched SCSS file (proximity bias) rather than the file scoped to their concern. Across one day's evening work I added four unrelated apparatus blocks (preface, section-break, sequence-marker, sequence-index) all to `_sidenotes.scss` — whose own header comment declared its scope as **§XII Sidenotes + §XII.b Register Markers**.

**Steward correction (verbatim)**: *"why in sidenotes.scss?"*

## Why this matters

- **The file's declared scope IS the contract.** Adding orthogonal concerns silently turns a focused partial into a kitchen-sink. Future readers (including future me) lose the file's organizing principle.
- **Cousin to blame-the-exotic-before-checking-the-boring** (saved 2026-04-28 earlier today): same shape — defaulting to the path of least resistance instead of the principled one. Different domain (file org vs diagnostics), same root impulse.
- **DX cost compounds**: a partial named `_sidenotes.scss` becomes harder to grep, refactor, or hand off to a collaborator when it secretly contains preface/section-break/sequence/etc.

## How to apply

- **Before adding a new SCSS rule, check the target partial's header comment / declared scope.** If the rule belongs to a different concern, create a new partial OR find the right existing one.
- **One concern per partial** is the working norm in `scss/AldineXXI/`. The split is by spec section (§XII Sidenotes), apparatus type (preface, section-break), or page-type (sequence-index, post, layout).
- **`@import` order in `main.scss` is already sectioned with comments** (`// 7. Sidenotes (§XII)…`, `// 7.b Preface (§XII.c)…`). Honor that organization — add new imports in the right numbered slot.
- **If a partial has been growing across concerns**, surface it for refactor before adding the next rule. The cost of pausing to split is much smaller than the cost of a kitchen-sink that compounds.

## Refactor as recovery

When caught (as today), the recovery is:
1. Identify the partial's true scope (re-read its header comment).
2. Split the orthogonal concerns into properly-scoped new partials.
3. Update `main.scss` imports with section comments preserving the spec mapping.
4. The file returns to its declared shape; new partials inherit the discipline.

Today's recovery: split `_sidenotes.scss` into `_preface.scss`, `_section-break.scss`, `_sequence.scss` — each with a proper header comment naming its concern. Imports added to `main.scss` at slots 7.b, 7.c, 7.d (preserving the §XII numbering visually).

## Cross-references

- Cousin: `feedback-blame-the-exotic-before-checking-the-boring` (2026-04-28) — same proximity-bias / path-of-least-resistance shape, different domain.
- Cousin: feedback-canonical-workstream-tracker-discipline (2026-04-26) — also a file-organization discipline (canonical trackers, not parallel siblings).
- Sibling: the `would-Alexander-do-it?` test (2026-04-27) — *one pattern at a time*; bulk-scaffold instinct fights principled placement.