Dan Olsavsky's Blog

- CSS 3
- Why in the hell is the W3C doing these days?
- How can I help?
- CSS Goes Mobile
- Articles
- Alternatives



Overview

- CSS 3 browser support has been in development for over five years
- it appears as that we still have to wait a little while before it is full supported in all browsers
- not all browsers hav fully implemented CSS2
- WebKit/Safari supports all current CSS 3 selectors
- CSS 3 eill change the way we put web content together for years to come
- start learning them:
1. Box-shadow - Add drop shadows through CSS
2. Multi-column layout
3. Web Fonts
4. Rounded corners - Any can be made round.
5. Colors with transparency - There goes another ugly hack from way back
6. Background image controls - Image layering. Remember how great it was when you could add images as well as colors to an element’s background CSS style? Well, it’s about to get a whole lot better!



W3C

- As the popularity of CSS grows, so does interest in making additions to the specification. Rather than attempting to shove dozens of updates into a single specification, it will be much easier and more efficient to be able to update individual pieces of the specification. Modules will enable CSS to be updated in a more timely and precise fashion, thus allowing for a more flexible and timely evolution of the specification as a whole.
- Meanwhile, the development of web-apps and other small (dynamic) modules, often referred to as web 3.0, are making a bigger impact on our industry (a bigger impact than front-end development). Ever hear the term "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" !? The only way we can really understand what needs to happen is by becoming web app developers ourselves (to some degree). Watch closely, it will be interesting to see what happens...

- http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work.html - CSSWG Development
- http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work.html#CSS3 - CSS 3 Development
- http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/
- http://www.css3.info/preview/ - current CSS 3 selectors (awaiting w3c recommendation, then browser support)



Help/Contact

- www-style@w3.org



CSS goes mobile

- the mobile internet is clearly going to play a big role in the future of the web
- Developing a style sheet for iPhones, PDA's, BlackBerry's and other handhelds mobile devices (150px)
- link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="handheld" href="mobile.css"



Articles

- http://www.alistapart.com/articles/cssatten - the expansion of web fonts
- http://ajaxian.com/archives/the-future-of-css-and-the-end-of-30 - great comments. If any of you have tried to style web apps using CSS (hello LVI), youll know exactly how these AJAX developers feel.
- http://www.alistapart.com/articles/css3multicolumn - 3 column modules "the holy grail"
- http://ajaxian.com/archives/safari-3-and-css-3



Alternatives
- I think that many of us are comfortable using JavaScript for most of these (CSS 3) solutions anyway. I would advise (to those who havent already) spending some time learning Prototype, Scriptaculous and jQuery. They are all simple to use, SEO friendly, and if used effectively, increase the web page's interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability (not to mention save you time and make you look like a bad-ass).
- If you are interested in learning more about developing web-apps:

- Flex 3 is in beta
- http://asp.net/
- http://asp.net/ajax/

- Dan Olsavsky