I used to make redesign projects without using normalize css or any other form of reset. Therefore I got accustomed to editing all the margins and paddings myself. Now, I'm currently making an online portfolio for myself and included the normalize css(due to all the benefits I hear) but I noticed that the margins are slightly different. For example, when I did a redesign project, I'd always have a * {margin: 0; padding: 0;} to start my css and build from there. Now that I've included normalize, any given element wont start the same and gives off an odd margin at the top and its throwing me off, even if I include the * {margin:0; padding:0;}. So Im wondering, what are the potential pitfalls of not including the normalize css? Can I get away with using my usual technique and not using normalize css at all?
Following the web standards, allmost every element has a little default styling. Setting margin and padding to 0 for every element is expensive and really not necessary.
I created Initialize.css, a collection of best practices like normalize and made it configurable with scss (there is a css version as well). In this case, you could set your own margins to elements like paragraphs and headings.