W3C

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Snapshot 2010

W3C Working Group Note 12 May 2011

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/NOTE-css-2010-20110512/
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/css-2010/
Previous versions:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-css-2010-20101202/
Editor:
Elika J. Etemad

Abstract

This document collects together into one definition all the specs that together form the current state of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as of 2010. The primary audience is CSS implementors, not CSS authors, as this definition includes modules by specification stability, not Web browser adoption rate.

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

Publication as a Working Group Note does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

The document was produced by the CSS Working Group (part of the Style Activity).

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

The (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org (see instructions) is preferred for discussion of this document. When sending e-mail, please put the text “css-2010” in the subject, preferably like this: “[css-2010] …summary of comment…

This document represents the state of CSS as of 2010. The CSS Working Group does not expect any further changes to this document: new snapshots will be published at http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS/ as CSS advances.

Table of contents

1. Introduction

When the first CSS specification was published, all of CSS was contained in one document that defined CSS Level 1. CSS Level 2 was defined also by a single, multi-chapter document. However for CSS beyond Level 2, the CSS Working Group chose to adopt a modular approach, where each module defines a part of CSS, rather than to define a single monolithic specification. This breaks the specification into more manageable chunks and allows more immediate, incremental improvement to CSS.

Since different CSS modules are at different levels of stability, the CSS Working Group has chosen to publish this profile to define the current scope and state of Cascading Style Sheets as of late 2010. This profile includes only specifications that we consider stable and for which we have enough implementation experience that we are sure of that stability.

Note that this is not intended to be a CSS Desktop Browser Profile: inclusion in this profile is based on feature stability only and not on expected use or Web browser adoption. This profile defines CSS in its most complete form.

Note also that although we don't anticipate significant changes to the specifications that form this snapshot, their inclusion does are not mean they are frozen. The Working Group will continue to address problems as they are found in these specs. Implementers should monitor www-style and/or the CSS Working Group Blog for any resulting changes, corrections, or clarifications.

1.1. The W3C Process and CSS

This section is non-normative.

In the W3C Process, a Recommendation-track document passes through five levels of stability, summarized below:

Working Draft (WD)
Published during the process of drafting the specification, the purpose of a public Working Draft is to create a snapshot of the specification's current state and to solicit input from the W3C and the public. The document is known to be unstable, and is often incomplete.
Last Call Working Draft (LC or LCWD)
By publishing a Last Call Working Draft, a working group is expressing that they consider the spec to be complete and all issues to be resolved. Publishing a Last Call Working Draft announces that this specification will move toward Candidate Recommendation unless significant issues are brought up. The Last Call period is a last chance for others to submit issues before the transition to CR.
Candidate Recommendation (CR)
By publishing a Candidate Recommendation, a working group is expressing that have resolved all known issues and they believe the spec is ready for implementation.
Proposed Recommendation (PR)
To exit CR and enter this stage, the spec needs a comprehensive test suite and implementation reports proving that every feature in the spec is interoperably implemented in at least two shipping implementations. Entering the Proposed Recommendation stage signals to the W3C that these requirements have been met. Once the W3C officially approves the specification, it becomes a Recommendation.
Recommendation (REC)
This is the final stage. At this point there should need to be no more changes.

In the CSSWG's experience, the recommendation track is not linear. The wider review triggered by an LCWD often results in at least another working draft, possibly several. More significantly, our experience is that many specs enter CR twice, because implementation testing often uncovers significant problems in the spec and thus pushes it back to working draft. Additionally, fixing even minor problems forces a CR to re-enter the Working Draft stage. As a result, although the CSSWG has a clear idea of the stability of the CSS specs, it is very difficult for someone outside the working group to come to that same understanding based on a specification's official status. The CSS Working Group's motivation for creating this document is thus to communicate to others our understanding of the state of CSS.

2. CSS Levels

Cascading Style Sheets does not have versions in the traditional sense; instead it has levels. Each level of CSS builds on the previous, refining definitions and adding features. The feature set of each higher level is a superset of any lower level, and the behavior allowed for a given feature in a higher level is a subset of that allowed in the lower levels. A user agent conforming to a higher level of CSS is thus also conformant to all lower levels.

2.1. CSS Level 1

The CSS Working Group considers the CSS1 specification to be obsolete. CSS Level 1 is defined as all the features defined in the CSS1 specification (properties, values, at-rules, etc), but using the syntax and definitions in the CSS2.1 specification. CSS Style Attributes defines its inclusion in element-specific style attributes.

2.2. CSS Level 2

Although the CSS2 specification is technically a W3C Recommendation, it passed into the Recommendation stage before the W3C had defined the Candidate Recommendation stage. Over time implementation experience and further review has brought to light many problems in the CSS2 specification, so instead of expanding an already unwieldy errata list, the CSS Working Group chose to define CSS Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS2.1). In case of any conflict between the two specs CSS2.1 contains the definitive definition.

Once CSS2.1 became Candidate Recommendation—effectively though not officially the same level of stability as CSS2—obsoleted the CSS2 Recommendation. Features in CSS2 that were dropped from CSS2.1 should be considered to be at the Candidate Recommendation stage, but note that many of these have been or will be pulled into a CSS Level 3 working draft, in which case that specification will, once it reaches CR, obsolete the definitions in CSS2.

The CSS2.1 specification defines CSS Level 2 and the CSS Style Attributes specification defines its inclusion in element-specific style attributes.

2.3. CSS Level 3

This section is non-normative.

CSS Level 3 builds on CSS Level 2 module by module, using the CSS2.1 specification as its core. Each module adds functionality and/or replaces part of the CSS2.1 specification. The CSS Working Group intends that the new CSS modules will not contradict the CSS2.1 specification: only that they will add functionality and refine definitions. As each module is completed, it will be plugged in to the existing system of CSS2.1 plus previously-completed modules.

From this level on modules are levelled independently: for example Selectors Level 4 may well be defined before CSS Line Module Level 3.

3. Cascading Style Sheets Definition

As of 2010, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is defined by the following specifications.

  1. CSS Level 2 Revision 1 (including errata)
  2. CSS Style Attributes
  3. Media Queries Level 3
  4. CSS Namespaces
  5. Selectors Level 3
  6. CSS Color Level 3

3.1. Partial Implementations

So that authors can exploit the forward-compatible parsing rules to assign fallback values, CSS renderers must treat as invalid (and ignore as appropriate) any at-rules, properties, property values, keywords, and other syntactic constructs for which they have no usable level of support. In particular, user agents must not selectively ignore unsupported property values and honor supported values in a single multi-value property declaration: if any value is considered invalid (as unsupported values must be), CSS requires that the entire declaration be ignored.

3.2. CSS Profiles

Not all implementations will implement all functionality defined in CSS. For example, an implementation may choose to implement only the functionality required by a CSS Profile. Profiles define a subset of CSS considered fundamental for a specific class of CSS implementations. The W3C CSS Working Group defines the following CSS profiles:

3.3. Experimental Implementations

To avoid clashes with future CSS features, the CSS2.1 specification reserves a prefixed syntax for proprietary and experimental extensions to CSS.

Prior to a specification reaching the Candidate Recommendation stage in the W3C process, all implementations of a CSS feature are considered experimental. The CSS Working Group recommends that implementations use a vendor-prefixed syntax for such features, including those in W3C Working Drafts. This avoids incompatibilities with future changes in the draft.

For legacy reasons, certain experimental CSS properties do not follow this prefixing convention. Two common examples are the ‘word-wrap’ and ‘text-overflow’ properties, which were introduced unprefixed by Microsoft Internet Explorer prior to the introduction of the vendor prefixing policy in CSS2.1 and were subsequently implemented unprefixed by other browsers, creating a dependency on the unprefixed names despite the lack of a W3C spec. Any other legacy exceptions should be made in consultation with the CSS Working Group.

3.4. Non-Experimental Implementations

Once a specification reaches the Candidate Recommendation stage, non-experimental implementations are possible, and implementors should release an unprefixed implementation of any CR-level feature they can demonstrate to be correctly implemented according to spec.

To establish and maintain the interoperability of CSS across implementations, the CSS Working Group requests that non-experimental CSS renderers submit an implementation report (and, if necessary, the testcases used for that implementation report) to the W3C before releasing an unprefixed implementation of any CSS features. Testcases submitted to W3C are subject to review and correction by the CSS Working Group.

Further information on submitting testcases and implementation reports can be found from on the CSS Working Group's website at http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/. Questions should be directed to the public-css-testsuite@w3.org mailing list.

CSS2.1 implementations are encouraged, but not required, to submit an implementation report.

4. Indices

These sections are non-normative.

4.1. Property Index

Name Values Initial value Applies to Inherited? Percentages Media
background-attachment scroll | fixed | inherit scroll   no   visual
background-color <color> | inherit transparent   no   visual
background-image <uri> | none | inherit none   no   visual
background-position [ [ <percentage> | <length> | left | center | right ] [ <percentage> | <length> | top | center | bottom ]? ] | [ [ left | center | right ] || [ top | center | bottom ] ] | inherit 0% 0%   no refer to the size of the box itself visual
background-repeat repeat | repeat-x | repeat-y | no-repeat | inherit repeat   no   visual
background [background-color || background-image || background-repeat || background-attachment || background-position] | inherit see individual properties   no allowed on ‘background-positionvisual
border-collapse collapse | separate | inherit separate table’ and ‘inline-table’ elements yes   visual
border-color [ <color> ]{1,4} | inherit see individual properties   no   visual
border-spacing <length> <length>? | inherit 0 table’ and ‘inline-table’ elements  yes   visual
border-style <border-style>{1,4} | inherit see individual properties   no   visual
border-top border-right border-bottom border-left [ <border-width> || <border-style> || border-top-color ] | inherit see individual properties   no   visual
border-top-color border-right-color border-bottom-color border-left-color <color> | inherit the value of the ‘color’ property   no   visual
border-top-style border-right-style border-bottom-style border-left-style <border-style> | inherit none   no   visual
border-top-width border-right-width border-bottom-width border-left-width <border-width> | inherit medium   no   visual
border-width <border-width>{1,4} | inherit see individual properties   no   visual
border [ <border-width> || <border-style> || border-top-color ] | inherit see individual properties   no   visual
bottom <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto positioned elements no refer to height of containing block visual
caption-side top | bottom | inherit top table-caption’ elements yes   visual
clear none | left | right | both | inherit none block-level elements no   visual
clip <shape> | auto | inherit auto absolutely positioned elements no   visual
color <color> | inherit depends on user agent   yes   visual
content normal | none | [ <string> | <uri> | <counter> | attr(<identifier>) | open-quote | close-quote | no-open-quote | no-close-quote ]+ | inherit normal :before and :after pseudo-elements no   all
counter-increment [ <identifier> <integer>? ]+ | none | inherit none   no   all
counter-reset [ <identifier> <integer>? ]+ | none | inherit none   no   all
cursor [ [<uri> ,]* [ auto | crosshair | default | pointer | move | e-resize | ne-resize | nw-resize | n-resize | se-resize | sw-resize | s-resize | w-resize | text | wait | help | progress ] ] | inherit auto   yes   visual, interactive
direction ltr | rtl | inherit ltr all elements, but see prose yes   visual
display inline | block | list-item | inline-block | table | inline-table | table-row-group | table-header-group | table-footer-group | table-row | table-column-group | table-column | table-cell | table-caption | none | inherit inline   no   all
empty-cells show | hide | inherit show table-cell’ elements yes   visual
float left | right | none | inherit none all, but see 9.7 no   visual
font-family [ [ <family-name> | <generic-family> ] [, <family-name>| <generic-family> ]* ] | inherit depends on user agent   yes   visual
font-size <absolute-size> | <relative-size> | <length> | <percentage> | inherit medium   yes refer to inherited font size visual
font-style normal | italic | oblique | inherit normal   yes   visual
font-variant normal | small-caps | inherit normal   yes   visual
font-weight normal | bold | bolder | lighter | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | inherit normal   yes   visual
font [ [ font-style || font-variant || font-weight ]? font-size [ / line-height ]? font-family ] | caption | icon | menu | message-box | small-caption | status-bar | inherit see individual properties   yes see individual properties visual
height <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table columns, and column groups no see prose visual
left <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto positioned elements no refer to width of containing block visual
letter-spacing normal | <length> | inherit normal   yes   visual
line-height normal | <number> | <length> | <percentage> | inherit normal   yes refer to the font size of the element itself visual
list-style-image <uri> | none | inherit none elements with ‘display: list-itemyes   visual
list-style-position inside | outside | inherit outside elements with ‘display: list-itemyes   visual
list-style-type disc | circle | square | decimal | decimal-leading-zero | lower-roman | upper-roman | lower-greek | lower-latin | upper-latin | armenian | georgian | lower-alpha | upper-alpha | none | inherit disc elements with ‘display: list-itemyes   visual
list-style [ list-style-type || list-style-position || list-style-image ] | inherit see individual properties elements with ‘display: list-itemyes   visual
margin-right margin-left <margin-width> | inherit 0 all elements except elements with table display types other than table-caption, table and inline-table no refer to width of containing block visual
margin-top margin-bottom <margin-width> | inherit 0 all elements except elements with table display types other than table-caption, table and inline-table no refer to width of containing block visual
margin <margin-width>{1,4} | inherit see individual properties all elements except elements with table display types other than table-caption, table and inline-table no refer to width of containing block visual
max-height <length> | <percentage> | none | inherit none all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table columns, and column groups no see prose visual
max-width <length> | <percentage> | none | inherit none all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups no refer to width of containing block visual
min-height <length> | <percentage> | inherit 0 all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table columns, and column groups no see prose visual
min-width <length> | <percentage> | inherit 0 all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups no refer to width of containing block visual
opacity <number> | inherit 1 all no   visual
orphans <integer> | inherit 2 block container elements yes   visual, paged
outline-color <color> | invert | inherit invert   no   visual, interactive
outline-style <border-style> | inherit none   no   visual, interactive
outline-width <border-width> | inherit medium   no   visual, interactive
outline [ outline-color || outline-style || outline-width ] | inherit see individual properties   no   visual, interactive
overflow visible | hidden | scroll | auto | inherit visible block containers no   visual
padding-top padding-right padding-bottom padding-left <padding-width> | inherit 0 all elements except table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-row, table-column-group and table-column no refer to width of containing block visual
padding <padding-width>{1,4} | inherit see individual properties all elements except table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-row, table-column-group and table-column no refer to width of containing block visual
page-break-after auto | always | avoid | left | right | inherit auto block-level elements (but see text) no   visual, paged
page-break-before auto | always | avoid | left | right | inherit auto block-level elements (but see text) no   visual, paged
page-break-inside avoid | auto | inherit auto block-level elements (but see text) no   visual, paged
position static | relative | absolute | fixed | inherit static   no   visual
quotes [<string> <string>]+ | none | inherit depends on user agent   yes   visual
right <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto positioned elements no refer to width of containing block visual
table-layout auto | fixed | inherit auto table’ and ‘inline-table’ elements no   visual
text-align left | right | center | justify | inherit a nameless value that acts as ‘left’ if ‘direction’ is ‘ltr’, ‘right’ if ‘direction’ is ‘rtlblock containers yes   visual
text-decoration none | [ underline || overline || line-through || blink ] | inherit none   no (see prose)   visual
text-indent <length> | <percentage> | inherit 0 block containers yes refer to width of containing block visual
text-transform capitalize | uppercase | lowercase | none | inherit none   yes   visual
top <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto positioned elements no refer to height of containing block visual
unicode-bidi normal | embed | bidi-override | inherit normal all elements, but see prose no   visual
vertical-align baseline | sub | super | top | text-top | middle | bottom | text-bottom | <percentage> | <length> | inherit baseline inline-level and ‘table-cell’ elements no refer to the ‘line-height’ of the element itself visual
visibility visible | hidden | collapse | inherit visible   yes   visual
white-space normal | pre | nowrap | pre-wrap | pre-line | inherit normal   yes   visual
widows <integer> | inherit 2 block container elements yes   visual, paged
width <length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit auto all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups no refer to width of containing block visual
word-spacing normal | <length> | inherit normal   yes   visual
z-index auto | <integer> | inherit auto positioned elements no   visual

4.2. Selector Index

Pattern Meaning Described in section First defined in level
* any element Universal selector 2
E an element of type E Type selector 1
E[foo] an E element with a "foo" attribute Attribute selectors 2
E[foo="bar"] an E element whose "foo" attribute value is exactly equal to "bar" Attribute selectors 2
E[foo~="bar"] an E element whose "foo" attribute value is a list of whitespace-separated values, one of which is exactly equal to "bar" Attribute selectors 2
E[foo^="bar"] an E element whose "foo" attribute value begins exactly with the string "bar" Attribute selectors 3
E[foo$="bar"] an E element whose "foo" attribute value ends exactly with the string "bar" Attribute selectors 3
E[foo*="bar"] an E element whose "foo" attribute value contains the substring "bar" Attribute selectors 3
E[foo|="en"] an E element whose "foo" attribute has a hyphen-separated list of values beginning (from the left) with "en" Attribute selectors 2
E:root an E element, root of the document Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:nth-child(n) an E element, the n-th child of its parent Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:nth-last-child(n) an E element, the n-th child of its parent, counting from the last one Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:nth-of-type(n) an E element, the n-th sibling of its type Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:nth-last-of-type(n) an E element, the n-th sibling of its type, counting from the last one Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:first-child an E element, first child of its parent Structural pseudo-classes 2
E:last-child an E element, last child of its parent Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:first-of-type an E element, first sibling of its type Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:last-of-type an E element, last sibling of its type Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:only-child an E element, only child of its parent Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:only-of-type an E element, only sibling of its type Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:empty an E element that has no children (including text nodes) Structural pseudo-classes 3
E:link
E:visited
an E element being the source anchor of a hyperlink of which the target is not yet visited (:link) or already visited (:visited) The link pseudo-classes 1
E:active
E:hover
E:focus
an E element during certain user actions The user action pseudo-classes 1 and 2
E:target an E element being the target of the referring URI The target pseudo-class 3
E:lang(fr) an element of type E in language "fr" (the document language specifies how language is determined) The :lang() pseudo-class 2
E:enabled
E:disabled
a user interface element E which is enabled or disabled The UI element states pseudo-classes 3
E:checked a user interface element E which is checked (for instance a radio-button or checkbox) The UI element states pseudo-classes 3
E::first-line the first formatted line of an E element The ::first-line pseudo-element 1
E::first-letter the first formatted letter of an E element The ::first-letter pseudo-element 1
E::before generated content before an E element The ::before pseudo-element 2
E::after generated content after an E element The ::after pseudo-element 2
E.warning an E element whose class is "warning" (the document language specifies how class is determined). Class selectors 1
E#myid an E element with ID equal to "myid". ID selectors 1
E:not(s) an E element that does not match simple selector s Negation pseudo-class 3
E F an F element descendant of an E element Descendant combinator 1
E > F an F element child of an E element Child combinator 2
E + F an F element immediately preceded by an E element Adjacent sibling combinator 2
E ~ F an F element preceded by an E element General sibling combinator 3

4.3. At-Rule Index