It probably makes most sense for ProtoStar to load user.css last but there are a few ways to work around stylesheet load order issues without hacking the core.

1. jQuery Easy

jQuery Easy can be used to remove the stylesheets and then add them back in the desired order.

2. Specificity

Make custom CSS changes specific enough so that they override the other stylesheets regardless of the stylesheet order.

Reference: http://joomla.stackexchange.com/a/15853/120

3. Use a Third Party Extension to load your custom CSS file

Instead of using user.css for your custom CSS, try some third party extensions which may load custom CSS files in a different order compared to the ProtoStar user.css stylesheet. For example, EasyScript loads a custom CSS file e.g. custom.css last.

Reference: How can I load the new Protostar custom CSS stylesheet last?

It probably makes most sense for ProtoStar to load user.css last but there are a few ways to work around stylesheet load order issues without hacking the core.

1. jQuery Easy

jQuery Easy can be used to remove the stylesheets and then add them back in the desired order.

2. Specificity

Make custom CSS changes specific enough so that they override the other stylesheets regardless of the stylesheet order.

Reference: https://joomla.stackexchange.com/a/15853/120

3. Use a Third Party Extension to load your custom CSS file

Instead of using user.css for your custom CSS, try some third party extensions which may load custom CSS files in a different order compared to the ProtoStar user.css stylesheet. For example, EasyScript loads a custom CSS file e.g. custom.css last.

Reference: How can I load the new Protostar custom CSS stylesheet last?

Ideally, ProtoStar should load user.css as the last stylesheet.

There are a few ways around this problem which don't involve hacking the core.

1. Specificity

Make your custom CSS changes specific enough so that they override the other stylesheets regardless of the stylesheet order.

Reference: http://joomla.stackexchange.com/a/15853/120

2. EasyScript

Instead of using user.css for your custom CSS, use a third party extension like EasyScript or similar which loads a custom CSS file e.g. custom.css last.

Reference: How can I load the new Protostar custom CSS stylesheet last?

3. jQuery Easy

jQuery Easy can be used to remove the stylesheets and then add them back in the desired order.

It probably makes most sense for ProtoStar to load user.css last but there are a few ways to work around stylesheet load order issues without hacking the core.

1. jQuery Easy

jQuery Easy can be used to remove the stylesheets and then add them back in the desired order.

2. Specificity

Make custom CSS changes specific enough so that they override the other stylesheets regardless of the stylesheet order.

Reference: http://joomla.stackexchange.com/a/15853/120

3. Use a Third Party Extension to load your custom CSS file

Instead of using user.css for your custom CSS, try some third party extensions which may load custom CSS files in a different order compared to the ProtoStar user.css stylesheet. For example, EasyScript loads a custom CSS file e.g. custom.css last.

Reference: How can I load the new Protostar custom CSS stylesheet last?