I will try not to dwell on the answer. And I will cite all links with complementary and detailed information. Including about the overall status of CSS
This list indicates the maturity of the code specifications in the W3C. From less stable to more stable.
Source: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work
A property can go through several revisions within the same "category" before changing to a more stable status.
This is the revision history of the code Media Query
. Notice that for a long time it was a CR
before actually becoming a REC
.
Source: https://www.w3.org/standards/history/css3-mediaqueries
I believe that the delay in updating the standards in the past was mainly because the Comitê W3C
communicated by an email list. Believe it or not, they didn’t have a repository and it was all agreed upon and discussed by an email list!
Here’s an example of what those conversations were like.
List with history: https://www.w3.org/Style/2012/MediaQueriesDisposalOfComments.html
An example of what conversations were like: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2012Mar/0409.html
Then the common thing was that for each "new property" an e-mail list was created, and that wanted to contribute with the Committee entered in the list and participated in the creation of specifications etc... Here is a list of how CSS standards established by W3C, and even you can see the history of each specs.
Behold: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/specs.en.html
And what is CSS like today? And CSS4?
Well, today things have evolved a little, and the projects of W3C are in the GitHub
, this makes it easy to track the development of things and for enthusiasts who want to contribute in some way.
That’s the GitHub
of W3C https://github.com/w3c/ and this is the project of CSS Drafs Working Group https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts
Here is an opinion of mine: It is very likely that the CSS4 will never exist... Actually the CSS in my view is an eternal Beta. Some properties will evolve while others will be "deprecated". In addition, the CSS properties modules are at different levels, some more advanced and others less, and even in what is said "CSS 3" there are modules that are still 1 and others that are already 4...
For example:
It leads me to believe that there will never be a CSS 4... What will occur is only a steady and gradual evolution (Evergreen). As Adobe does for example with Photoshop, where currently no longer has version 9 or 10, it is now only the "current version" :)
Here is a very interesting article about the future and the CSS4:
https://www.silocreativo.com/en/css4-the-new-version-of-css-that-will-never-exist/
This is the current status of all properties
https://www.w3.org/standards/techs/css#w3c_all
Important
It is necessary to keep in mind that no one, nor no Browser, is in fact "obliged" to follow what determines the W3C. So it’s common to see properties like Vendor Prefix, as -moz-
and -webkit-
, Usually these are not "official" properties, are not specified by W3C and may work exclusively on one browser or another, or even exist on other browsers. In addition, each browser has a certain freedom to treat the stylization of certain fields, such as <button>
or <select>
, who usually have styles of user-agent
different from browser to browser.
Here for example is the list of specifications and how they are in the Mozilla Firefox browser
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS3
The subject is interesting, and one deeper than it seems... Let’s see if Maujor shows up to answer that :)
– hugocsl
Who would be Maujor?
– Sam
If you’re Uncle, and Leo’s Grandpa, Maujor’s the CSS Dinosaur! Here is his website https://www.maujor.com/ he has a very interesting life story has, several published books, lectures etc..., including you can see on Youtube some videos about this world dev myth. https://answall.com/users/13752/maujor
– hugocsl
@hugocsl thought you could break me. I find this acronym a little confusing. Well, if Maujor can clarify that question I’ll be most grateful.
– Sam
Sam I even separated a material, but I have no time to make a response at the level I would like, and there are some things I couldn’t identify, for example. " when the status change occurs, "I think this is a particular committee decision depending on the availability of the members to evaluate... I haven’t been able to get any background on that... If you think that a slightly more simplified response can have some value I can contribute with what I have in hand here
– hugocsl
@hugocsl I’m doing some research... if I get something, I’ll post an answer myself
– Sam