Update: So CSS4 is going to happen?

Posted 19 hours ago

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post, So CSS4 is going to happen? I wrote it in response to a video that Zoran Jambor of CSS Weekly had posted. I recently read It’s Time to Talk About “CSS5” on Smashing Magazine and wanted to provide an update on the effort to find better approaches for how we describe the evolution of CSS over time and identify feature sets so that we have a common framework as Web practioners to educate other developers and set benchmarks to define modern web skills.

The Problem

CSS has evolved with a lot of new exciting features over the past three or four years. In the past, CSS was released under levels like 1 and 2. But after Level 2, CSS Working Group chose to adopt a modular approach instead of a single multi-chapter document. There was a huge advantage to developers in this approach that different modules of CSS features could be released when they were ready instead of bundling it together with a lot of other features and allowed CSS to evolve much quicker.

The problem is that there was no good way to refer a group of these changes to educate developers or help employers define modern web skills. Many authors started referring to newer features as “modern CSS” but that label quickly loses its relevance.

CSS-Next – working toward a solution

The CSS-Next community was formed to address this issue and work toward solutions.

“[CSS-Next] is part of the W3C and consists of CSSWG members, developers, designers, user agents, and, really, anyone passionate about the web and who wants to participate in the discussion. W3C groups like CSS-Next are open to everyone to bring our disparate groups together, opening opportunities to shape tomorrow’s vision of the web.”

Brecht De Ruyte, It’s Time to Talk About “CSS5”, Smashing Magazine, August 5, 2024

I would encourage you to read Brecht’s article to learn more about the progress of CSS-Next, CSS4, and CSS5. The article explains the goals of the CSS-Next group and outlines the current CSS eras that they have defined. There is an open invitation for anyone to participate in the CSS-Next group.