Remaining Spec Update Announcements 2017
The CSSWG published a number of major updates last year, not all of which were announced, so here are the missing publications, in reverse chronological order:
- CSS Grid Layout Level 1 — updated CR
- CSS Scroll Snapping Level 1 — updated CR
- CSS Counter Styles Level 3 — updated CR
- CSS Writing Modes Level 3 & Level 4 — updated CR, FPWD
- CSS Transitions Level 1 — updated WD
- CSS Animations Level 1 — updated WD
- CSS Transforms Level 1 — updated WD
- CSS Flexible Box Layout Level 1 — updated CR
- CSS Box Alignment Level 3 — updated WD
- CSS Text Level 3 — updated WD
- CSS Logical Properties Level 1 — FPWD
- CSS Fill and Stroke Level 3 — FPWD
- CSS Images Level 4 — updated WD
- CSS Rhythmic Sizing Level 1 — FPWD
- CSS Timing (Easing) Functions Level 1 — FPWD
As usual, please send feedback by either filing an issue in GitHub (preferable) or sending mail to the (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org with the appropriate spec code and your comment topic in the subject line. (Alternatively, you can email one of the editors and ask them to forward your comment.)
CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1
On 14 December 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Candidate Recommendation of the CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1.
This module defines a new type of layout manager, the grid, which makes it extremely easy to specify complex, responsive 2-dimensional layouts for a page or sub-component of the page.
This update incorporates all of the feedback received over the past year since the initial Candidate Recommendation in October 2016.
Major changes include
- Making the
grid property not reset the gap properties.
- Renaming the
grid-gap properties to remove the grid- prefix so that they can be shared with multicol and flexbox, see announcement. (The old names will be aliased over for backward-compatibility.)
- Deferring the “subgrid” feature to Level 2.
Significant changes are listed (with diffs) at in the Changes section, and a Disposition of Comments is also available.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-grid-1].
On 14 December 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Candidate Recommendation of the CSS Scroll Snapping Module Level 1.
This module contains features to control panning and scrolling behavior with “snap positions”.
This update renames the scroll-snap-margin property to scroll-margin and applies it also to the target element of scrolling operations such as scrollIntoView(), focus(), and navigating to #fragment.
Note that scroll-padding is already applied generally, to allow adjustment of the scrolling area for visual continuity and to accommodate floating sidebars/headers/footers, without requiring JavaScript.
Significant changes are listed in the Changes section, and a Disposition of Comments is also available.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-scroll-snap-1].
CSS Counter Styles Module Level 3
On 14 December 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Candidate Recommendation of the CSS Counter Styles Module Level 3.
This module introduces the @counter-style rule, which allows authors to define their own custom counter styles for use as list markers and generated content. It also predefines a set of common counter styles, including the ones present in CSS2 and CSS2.1.
This update addresses feedback received since the 11 June 2015 CR. Significant changes are listed in the Changes section; a Disposition of Comments is also available.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-counter-styles-3].
CSS Writing Modes Level 3 and Level 4
On 7 December 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Candidate Recommendation of CSS Writing Modes Level 3 and a First Public Working Draft of CSS Writing Modes Level 4.
CSS Writing Modes defines CSS support for various international writing modes, such as left-to-right (e.g. Latin or Indic), right-to-left (e.g. Hebrew or Arabic), bidirectional (e.g. mixed Latin and Arabic) and vertical (e.g. Asian scripts).
Level 4 is the same as the previous Level 3 draft; several features were cut from Level 3 due to lack of implementation:
sideways-lr and sideways-rl values of the writing-mode property
digits value of text-combine-upright
- multi-column handling of orthogonal block containers
The only other change was to adjust the fallback “available space” for orthogonal flows to use the nearest fixed-size scrollport where available, rather than always using 100vh/vw.
The significant changes are all listed in the draft: Level 3 changes, Level 4 additions.
A Disposition of Comments is also available.
We anticipate transitioning Level 4 back up to Candidate Recommendation as soon as the requisite waiting periods have ended; Level 3 will transition to REC as soon as the last few tests pass in two implementations.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-writing-modes].
CSS Transitions Module Level 1
On 30 November 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Transitions Module Level 1.
CSS Transitions allows property changes in CSS values to occur smoothly over a specified duration.
This update adds more precision and correctness to the draft in a number of cases and also adds some new events. Significant changes in the draft.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-transitions-1].
CSS Animations Module Level 1
On 30 November 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Animations Module Level 1.
This module introduces declarative keyframe animations of CSS properties.
his draft folds in a number of previously-outstanding WG resolutions, as well as other fixes and clarifications, see status.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-animations-1].
On 30 November 2017, the CSS WG has published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Transforms Module Level 1
CSS transforms allows elements styled with CSS to be transformed in two-dimensional space. This specification is the convergence of the CSS 2D transforms and SVG transforms specifications.
This update incorporates a lot of feedback since the earlier 2013 draft; 3D Transforms have been split out into Level 2.
There is no completed disposition of comments or changes list. The changelog can be found in the CSSWG’s drafts repository (part 3, part 2, part 1), and a partial disposition of comments, up through 31 December 2016, is available, with a number of resolutions for the issues therein logged in the Seattle F2F minutes (part 1, part 2. Subsequent issue-tracking was moved to GitHub.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-transforms-1].
CSS Flexible Box Module Level 1
On 19 October 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Candidate Recommendation of the CSS Flexible Box Layout Module Level 1.
Flexbox is a new layout model for CSS. The contents of a flex container can be laid out in any direction, can be reordered, can be aligned and justified within their container, and can “flex” their sizes and positions to respond to the available space. We expect this model to be particularly useful for UI layouts.
This update addresses issues found since the 26 May 2016 publication. Exact diff-marked changes, and their justifications, are available in the Changes section. A Disposition of Comments resulting in the latest changes is also available.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-flexbox-1].
CSS Box Alignment Level 3
Probably the worst announcement to have missed this year…
In August the CSSWG resolved to drop the grid- prefixes of Grid Layout‘s gutter properties, grid-gap/grid-row-gap/grid-column-gap, merging its row gap property with the existing Multi-column Layout module’s row-gap property and extending its functionality to apply to Flexbox as well. See full discussion.
As a result, on 6 September 2017 the CSS Working Group published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Box Alignment Module Level 3, shifting the definitions of these properties (and renaming them accordingly) to this module. (The Grid module has also been updated to remove the grid-gap definitions.)
There were no other changes since the draft six weeks prior.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-align-3].
CSS Text Module Level 3
On 22 August 2017, the CSS WG published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Text Module Level 3.
This module contains various typesetting properties not related to font selection, such as alignment, line breaking, white space collapsing, text justification, and other forms of text-level spacing adjustments.
This update represents the handling of all comments received during the 2013 Last Call period and up through about mid-2015 (as well as a handful of later issues). A completed disposition of comments and a full changes list will be made available once the rest of the comments are handled. See the Disposition of Comments.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-text-3].
CSS Logical Properties Level 1
On 18 May 2017, the CSS WG published a First Working Draft of the CSS Logical Properties and Values Module Level 1.
This module introduces properties and values that control layout through logical (writing-mode–relative), rather than physical, direction and dimension mappings. The module defines such flow-relative properties and values for the features defined in [CSS21] and older CSS modules; newer CSS modules are expected to define such equivalents on their own.
This is a very late FPWD for a variety of unfortunate reasons, however as a functional dependency of supporting writing-mode for HTML much of the draft has been implemented and shipped (per WG resolution, see minutes and explanation). An explanation of the status of the spec is given in the intro; note, the inset name was later resolved.
Further work on this module is likely to consist of fixing issues raised against details such as the cascading mechanism, and either resolving or deferring unstable features not required by HTML’s default UA stylesheet.
One of the major open issues is the syntax for switching margin-style shorthand parsing from physical to logical, and the WG would appreciate feedback and suggestions on this feature, see open issue.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-logical-1].
CSS Fill and Stroke Module Level 3
On 13 April 2017, the CSS WG published a First Public Working Draft of the CSS Fill and Stroke Module Level 3.
This module extends the SVG fill and stroke properties to apply to text in CSS-formatted documents, allowing control over text fills and outlines. It also extends the properties to allow for layered image-based fills similar to the CSS background properties.
This is an early-stage Working Draft, and there are many open issues listed in the draft. Comments and suggestions are quite welcome on the public-fx@w3.org mailing list or, preferably, in the FXTF GitHub repo with the spec code [fill-stroke-3].
CSS Images and Replaced Content Module Level 4
On 13 April 2017 the CSS WG published an updated Working Draft of the CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Module Level 4.
This module defines the CSS <image> type used in background-image and other image-accepting propertys, and additionally defines several properties for handling replaced elements. The main extensions compared to Level 3 are several additions to the <image> type: the image() notation, the element() notation, and conic gradients.
This is an early-stage Working Draft. The update includes a number of fixes as well as the addition of some new features:
- color interpolation hints
- two location syntax for gradient color stops
- start angles for conic gradients
- reorderable color stop syntax
Significant changes are listed in the draft.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-images-4].
CSS Rhythmic Sizing Module Level 1
On 2 March 2017 the CSS WG published a First Public Working Draft of the CSS Rhythmic Sizing Module Level 1.
This module contains CSS features for sizing boxes in multiples of a “step size”.
This is an early-stage Working Draft and may change significantly as the feature designs are worked out. The line-height-step property in particular has raised a number of design concerns, see e.g. minutes of an F2F discussion.
The CSSWG is interested in use cases for line-height-step that are not better solved by either the block-step feature in the draft or by adjusting the inline layout model to exclude child boxes from the calculation of the line box height (thus forcing the line height to remain constant within a paragraph), as thus far the use cases presented for line-height-step seem to be better solved with these other approaches.
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-rhythm-1].
CSS Timing (Easing) Functions Module Level 1
On 21 February 2017, the CSS WG published a First Public Working Draft of the CSS Timing Functions Module Level 1.
This module extracts the various timing functions previously specified in CSS Transitions into their own module, for easier re-use across modules.
It also adds a new stepped timing notation for looped animations (called
frames() in the FPWD, but to be changed to an extension of steps()).
There was a request to change the name of the module to be more general for potential re-use with progressions other than time, such as in gradients; therefore, unless someone comes up with a much better idea soon, it is expected that the next publication will be titled CSS Easing Functions [css-easing].
Please send feedback with the spec code [css-timing-1].
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