This is a great thought exercise in progressive enhancement …that Scott then turns into a real exercise!
A plea to let users do web things on websites. In other words, stop over-complicating everything with buckets of JavaScript.
Honestly, this isn’t wishlist isn’t asking for much, and it’s a damning indictment of “modern” frontend development that we’ve come to this:
- Let me copy text so I can paste it.
- If something navigates like a link, let me do link things.
- …
- Springy easing with
linear()- Typed custom properties
- View transitions for page navigation
- Transition animation for
dialogandpopover- Transition animation for
details- Animated adaptive gradient text
Some interesting experiments in web typography here.
CSS wants you to build a system with it. It wants styles to build up, not flatten down.
Truth!
Anselm isn’t talking about becoming a CSS wizard, but simply having an understanding of what CSS can do. I have had similar experiences to this:
In the past years I had various situations where TypeScript developers (they called themselves) approached me and asked whether I could help them out with CSS. I expected to solve a complex problem but for me — knowing CSS very well — it was always a simple, straightforward solution or code snippet.
Let’s face it, “full stack” usually means “JavaScript”—HTML and CSS aren’t considered worthy of consideration. Their loss.
2022 was once unimaginable to some web folks.
Had you heard of these bits of CSS? Me too/neither!
The joy of getting hands-on with HTML and CSS.
Separate your concerns.
Using the CSS trinity of feature queries, logical properties, and unset.