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][2] 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][1] loads a custom CSS file e.g. `custom.css` last. Reference: http://joomla.stackexchange.com/q/15852/120 [1]: https://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/extension/core-enhancements/coding-a-scripts-integration/easyscript/ [2]: https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/jquery-easy/