Microsoft vs. Apple and the future of CSS3
Orin Shepherd | 04-23-08
In the war for the way that websites will behave and function in the future, Microsoft and Apple are at it again.
Apple has recently proposed additions to CSS3 to the CSS Working Group that would drastically change the web experience both from a developer and a user’s point of view. Microsoft on the other hand, feels that the CSS WG is taking too long is devising a set of standards and has announced that Internet Explorer 8, whenever it comes out, will not include CSS3 and that when they start developing IE9, it will include Microsoft’s own set of CSS standards.
Microsoft setting its own web standards and hoping everyone else complies? Gasp. Granted, Microsoft is still the biggest player on the browser market by far and can afford to buck the CSS Working Group because it knows that IE8 and likely IE9 will still be sitting on a huge market share for the foreseeable future. But why doesn’t Microsoft play nice? Why not work with the Working Group to include things they would like to include as part of an overall standard rather than once again making it difficult for developers to create a unified web experience across all platforms? Because they’re Microsoft, that’s why and they don’t have to live by anyone else’s rules.
Yes, the CSS Working Group has been at times slow, unwieldy and bureaucratic. Yes, the development of CSS3 has been a long process, in some ways as it should be. It should be thorough and as comprehensive as it can be— once completed it will be the standard for the next decade or more and anyone who has to try and predict the needs of the next decade has one hell of a task ahead of them.
With the birth of Internet Explorer 7, which was leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor in terms of standards compliance and its ability to properly render common, modern web elements, it was hoped that Microsoft, under pressure from players like Mozilla and Apple who are constantly nipping away bits of IE’s market share, was coming into the fold as it were in terms of standards compliance and one day we would have one rendering standard across many browsers and we would all hold hands and sing and everything would be perfect.
But we’re far from that. With Apple, Mozilla and Opera all moving forward inch by inch with CSS3 and Microsoft turning its 800 pound gorilla back on the CSS Working Group, it almost seems like after advances made with IE7 that IE8 and beyond might return to the Neanderthal days of having to use separate IE style sheets, hacks or IE selectors in order to have users across all platforms to have a similar experience.
IE Platform Architect Chris Wilson had this to say on Microsoft’s decision:
“Other browsers and standards break the web, so CSS.2012 is our best effort at fixing it. It will be tightly integrated into .NET and Silverlight, and initially will only work in IE9. Other browsers will be able to license the technology after a few years, when we judge it is stable. Then they can’t break the web.”
Other browsers breaking the web? I’m sorry, I can’t breathe I’m laughing so hard. IE6 is an absolute nightmare and while IE7 is leaps and bounds above, it still is lacking in certain aspects of standards compatibility. So what Microsoft is saying is that with IE9, if you’ve been very good, Microsoft will allow you the pleasure of paying for the license for their technology and paying them again if you want to get certified. But they can do that, because they’re Microsoft.
The irony is of course that of the reasons that Microsoft has been losing browser market share to Apple and Mozilla, one has been security, which Microsoft has addressed with its plethora of highly visible bells and whistles all over IE7 but the other has been page rendering. Frankly, pages just look better in Safari and Firefox and for the most part, developers find Internet Explorer a bane on their existence and will often try to push users away from the Big Blue E because of its poor standards compliance. So years from now when developers are happily using the tools of CSS3 to create fantastic interactive websites, they’ll still be fighting the uphill battle with IE.
But enough about Microsoft. What does Apple bring to the table?
Apple has been working closely with the CSS WG in order to try and advance the web experience even further— into the 4th dimension even. As if it weren’t exciting enough to think about things like easy rounded corners with CSS, easy media embedding, image alpha transparency, multiple backgrounds and Boolean attribute selectors (drool.. Boolean attribute selectors), they’ve recently proposed additions to CSS3’s abilities that at first may perhaps seem unnecessary, but upon closer examination really push the web experience over a brand new horizon.
Three things that Apple has put in front of the CSS WG:
CSS Animation Using CSS to create image animations using keyframes. While there’s plenty of room for exciting new uses of this, like replacing bulky flash and animated gifs with CSS, it’s hard to say whether animation should be a function of styling language. On the other hand, this will definitely open up a level of excitement to web developers who either don’t like flash and animated gifs or who want animated effects without the weight of a flash element on their page.
CSS Transform Using CSS to allow the user to be able to resize and position elements within a space. This could provide for some interesting new aspects of interactivity and customization for the user in web site design. Again, this is something that right now can only be imitated in flash or with Javascript. Imagine the ability to interact with an move around elements on a website with minimal outside rendering other than just the browser’s own interpretation of the CSS.
CSS Transition Allowing an object to change properties over time. For example, a box can change from red to purple to blue over a set period of time. Much like the CSS Animation property, this could be very valuable in reducing page load by removing hefty things like flash and animated gifs or pngs that normally would do this. Moves CSS into the 4th dimension. As long as it’s not over-used and becomes the new blink tag. I’m sure there would be some incredibly awful skull-splitting sites that will be created from this, but people have been doing that with animated gifs for years.
CSS Variables This has been requested since 1998 at which time it was proposed that instead of changing several different variables within a style sheet, the designer should be able to define site-wide variables that can be changed and worked with dynamically. This could streamline some processes, but some of this functionality can already be achieved through smart use of class selectors.
Example:
@variables {
CorporateLogoBGColor: #fe8d12;
}
div.logoContainer { background-color: var(CorporateLogoBGColor); }
Of these changes, I’m sure that if Apple or Mozilla were in a similar market share position as Microsoft, either company might be tempted to wield its strong arm against the others to accept its standard. However there are plenty of ways that Microsoft can continue to be relevant in the coming decades other than pushing its backwards web standards on the rest of us. Perhaps one day all browsers will have a similar standard of rendering web pages and everyone can be happy and still have their own piece of the pie, but not this day. The idea that CSS3 and IE8 would save web developers hours of headaches apparently are not to be.
Maybe Internet Explorer 11?
You can find out more about CSS3 at CSS3.info
