The Future of CSS

(joshwcomeau.com)

48 points | by soheilpro 1 hour ago

9 comments

  • herpdyderp 0 minutes ago
    A bit strange to me how Josh beings with heralding the browsers working together and then every mentioned feature is Chrome only. They're nice previews for a potential future I suppose!
  • afavour 11 minutes ago
    I’m part of the seeming minority that really enjoys working with CSS. And the way I use it today is so different than I did a few years back, e.g CSS modules, declaring a palette with variables then changing it for dark mode… it’s genuinely great to work with.
    • techpression 4 minutes ago
      light-dark() is even better for that :) I also enjoy CSS, using @scope and @layer a lot with the :has() selector, it’s just so different now and I think most people are unaware.
  • CharlesW 39 minutes ago
    Since I’m in before the negativity: I love CSS! For whatever reason, it’s always made sense to me. I have great respect for everyone with the tenacity to push on improvements that might take 5-10 years to be in common use, if at all.
  • koolala 1 minute ago
    The new responsively-sized iframes standard is an exciting one for me not mentioned. It's finally a step beyond the original frames and framesets. It will let us design sites out of iframes as building blocks instead of needing to use web components.
  • lopsotronic 19 minutes ago
    Been waiting a long time for CSS inherit() . . . although I freely admit that (and CSS Functions) open a respectable-sized can of worms. Sort of like what transclusion and conditionals do for document markup.

    Anchor Positioning would be sweet and doesn't feel like it's got so much baggage.

  • lioeters 17 minutes ago
    Do we really want functions in CSS? I guess that ship has sailed a while ago, since CSS reached Turing completeness.

      /* Define a function: */
      @function --gradient-to-transparent(--color, --direction: bottom) {
        result: linear-gradient(
          to var(--direction),
          var(--color),
          transparent;
        );
      }
    
    Why not provide better integration with JavaScript, to make this kind of acrobatics unnecessary.
    • afavour 8 minutes ago
      Because JavaScript requires… a lot. A virtual machine, script parsing, etc. Making that a requirement before you even display any content on the page would be a regression.
      • lioeters 2 minutes ago
        I can see that, but CSS already requires a lot, no? Especially as they keep adding new features to it.

        To me it feels like "programming in YAML", the way a declarative language/format acquires more and more features until you're writing functions in an awkward syntax that was never designed for it.

  • jamienk 23 minutes ago
    Still can't tree shake. It's what makes my old css files grow into monsters. I feel like everyone has given up on this.
    • afavour 20 minutes ago
      CSS modules ought to make it possible. But it’s more or less impossible with regular CSS, you have no idea when a class/ID might be used.
  • derekhong 1 hour ago
    [flagged]
  • FDEUp 51 minutes ago
    [dead]