-
201013 Sep
The CSS Working Group met in Oslo last month for three days of face to face meetings.
The minutes, available on the CSS Working Group’s blog, reveal discussions around CSS2.1, several CSS3 modules, a rough draft of the Working Group’s priorities for 2010 and even taking Microsoft to task over their controversial test results published earlier this year.
Working Group Priorities for 2010
The following list is described by the minutes as a “first cut” of the CSS Working Group’s 2010 module priorities and may yet be adjusted.
High Priority (Maintenance)
CSS2.1
CSS Color Level 3
CSS Namespaces
CSS Styling Attributes
Selectors Level 3High Priority
CSS Snapshots
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 3
CSS UI Level 3
CSS Fonts Level 3
CSS Image Values Level 3
CSS Multi-column Layout
CSS 2D Transforms
CSS Transitions
CSS Values and Units
Media QueriesMedium Priority
CSS Box Model Level 3
CSS Device Adaptation (@viewport proposal)
CSS Flexbox
CSS GCPM
CSS Lists
CSS Paged Media Level 3
CSS Ruby
CSS Template Layout
CSS Text Level 3
CSS 3D Transforms
CSS Writing Modes Level 3 (vertical text)
CSS Variables
CSSOM
CSSOM ViewLow Priority
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 4
CSS Filter Effects (applying SVG filters to CSS layouts)
CSS Grid Positioning
CSS Line Layout
CSS Scoped Style Sheets
CSS UI Level 4
CSS Tables Level 3
Selectors Level 4Not Yet Prioritized
Media Queries 3 Revision 1 (adding OM and serialization definitions)
Selectors Level 3 Revision 1 (adding OM and serialization definintions)Additional Notes and Updates
The minutes detail discussions around several CSS specifications and suggest a series of updated Candidate Recommendations and Working Drafts on the horizon, including:
CSS3 Fonts – Working Draft
CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders – Candidate Recommendation (including box-shadow)
CSS3 Generated Content for Paged Media – Candidate Recommendation (possibly, decision not reached within minutes)The minutes also make reference to several CSS4 modules which have entered development, as their CSS3 counterparts edge toward becoming official W3C Recommendations, including:
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 4
CSS UI Level 4
CSS Color Level 4
Selectors Level 4There is little detail as yet for these modules, however it does seem that CSS Color Level 4 will allow users to specify RGBa colors using #rrggbbaa as a syntax.
The minutes also introduces two revisions to current CSS3 specifications as follows:
Media Queries 3 Revision 1
Selectors Level 3 Revision 1According to the minutes, the purpose of these revisions are to to add OM and serialization definitions, although neither module has yet been prioritzed for development.
In addition to the above, the minutes also note that Microsoft were taken to task for publishing PR articles using test results from unreviewed Microsoft tests “that wouldn’t even pass Microsoft’s internal review” while implying that they were accepted by W3C.
Further details and the full minutes from all three days of talks can be found on the CSS Working Group’s blog here.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
-
Comments
-
01.
This is wonderful. I’m sure CSS4 will take things even further :)
-
02.
It would be nice if the upcoming CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 4 specifications will allow some sort of 3D parameters, to make way for what will probably become enhanced 3D web browsing. 3-Dimensional Tables is another of those theoretical ideas that can be thrown out there, but at this time it won’t go much beyond rambling about things that could be well ahead in the future. Border breaks at certain points would be fun – it’d give a more ‘custom’ layout to borders and allow the dashes or dots to be a custom distance away from each other, but border-image could handle that. Something like ‘border-angle-x-y’ would also, for example, set the angle of a border between the x-axis border and y-axis border. Bringing it to a 3D scope would be complicated, but it would be one those interesting things to see become available. 2D and 3D transforms make some of that possible, but rotation of individual lines that make up a box would definitely be cool mainly because it’d be complex. Bah, this is just me being imaginative. As far as selectors, I wouldn’t imagine there would be anything more to add than new pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements. There is of course parent selectors, but that in and of itself may take a while to implement for many browsers. Only nightlies of Firefox are capable of rendering border-radius with the formalized “border-radius” instead of the one with the “-moz-” prefix, so it’s taken quite a while for even Firefox to come around on something that’s been around for a pretty long time. It would be nice to have ‘negative’ border radius, that would sort of have the corner of a border “jutting out” as if there are spikes coming out of the border, or something. Again, imaginative rambling. It’s quite exciting to see that some CSS Level 4 specs are beginning to take mention.
-
03.
Alhadis says:Comment » September 14th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
At the moment, I’m mainly looking forward to seeing CSS3 Gradients published and out the door. This was probably the part of the CSS3 proposal – along with box-shadows, border radii and multiple backgrounds, that I was most looking forward to. I tend to use lots of subtle gradients in my work, which adds to a lot of needless HTTP requests on the user’s behalf, or sprite slicing/stitching on mine. Either way, the fact that things are moving along is superb news. :D Can’t wait to see the working group sign off on more things that’re soon to become standard, I hope.
-
04.
Rune Jensen says:Comment » September 15th, 2010 at 1:00 am
When will browsers support CSS3 collapse and link-behavior?
Border-style like wave?
Seems like easy concepts, shouldn’t be that much to think of, or..?
PS: This site has horrible usability. You get an error, if you do not type a valid email, fine. But when you click the back-button, the message-area is empty. NOT good!
-
05.
Dresandreal Sprinklehorn says:Comment » September 19th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Why is CSS3 taking so long to finish? I’d like to use it sometime before I die. :(
-
06.
Well, if it takes till 2020 (which I think it will to have CSS3 totally complete), then CSS4 will take until warp drive is invented in 2063 by Zeframe Cochrane!
-
07.
ledahulevogyre says:Comment » September 23rd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
@Dresandreal You can use some of the modules right now.
The other modules take long because implementations can’t catch up. Involve in Webkit or Gecko to help speeding development.
-
08.
-
09.
I’ll be glad when CSS3 is finally agreed. Overall a great step forward for the web.
-
10.
Not to sound like an a-hole but they just only met last month to set 2010 goals? No wonder CSS3 is taking forever.
-
11.
ErIs9 says:Comment » September 26th, 2010 at 4:31 am
Well at least they are trying to improve on things
-
12.
I’ll remain relatively-patient, time’s no constant, lol. I’ll do with what I can get. Lots of things have already been accomplished with incomplete specs (HTML5, CSS3). It’s quite incredible that all these things are accomplished under incomplete specs! Waiting for CSS3 to be complete is almost like a fan of Star Wars waiting for The Empire Strikes Back to arrive in theaters. When the CSS3 spec is in some way completed, it’ll be a very “Luke, I am your father” moment. The hacks accomplished with CSS 1 and 2 were quite amazing for their times (sprites, the practice of semantic columns replacing tables, etc). CSS3 hacks by the same token will probably be even more impressive. Till then, I’m alright with gradual change (although admittedly, would like the change to come at a faster pace too).
I took a look at the CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 4 (search word “CSS Level 4” – one of the first links) – I’m definitely looking forward to someday being able to use border-clip and its derived properties (border-top-clip, etc). It’s just one of those things that I see that makes me say, “hey, that’s similar to something I had thought on a couple of years back”. It’d make sense that a property like that would eventually make it to an editor’s draft. border-image can be used for much the same thing right now, but it’ll be neat to be able to do these things without images in the future.
-
13.
I’ll be glad when CSS3 is finally agreed. Overall a great step forward for the web.
-
14.
The browsers could already join the standard for example: border-radius: 5px.
Gecko could interpret-moz-border-radius, and the Webkit-webkit-border-radiusThis could be an automatic conversion of language, saving a lot in the code, now comes the IE9 ahead, and we have to add one more line in each attribute css3.
-Moz-border-radius: 5px
-Webkit-border-raius: 5px
-Iexxxx-border-radius: 5px -
15.
Thomas M - UI Designer says:Comment » October 6th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Browser developers must join hands to give a common standards in css development…I was expecting at least in css3 we would get a stable cross-browser friendly.. but that too become a nightmare.. :(
-
16.
@Vitor Melo: errr, no. IE9 simply supports border-radius, with no prefix. So do other browsers now, except Firefox (will be in 4.0).
-
17.
No talk about styling form controls? Those are highly problematic in every browser and need serious review and styling with CSS.
-
01.
