Since the inception of CSS in 1994, the cascade and inheritance have defined how we design on the web. Both are powerful features, but as authors we’ve had very little control over how they interact. Selector specificity and source order provide some minimal “layering” control, without a lot of nuance – and inheritance requires an unbroken lineage. Now, CSS Custom Properties allow us to manage and control both cascade and inheritance in new ways.
See the Pen Custom Property Cascades (sass function) by @miriamsuzanne on CodePen.
<dialog> and popover
Elements and windows that pop up on the screen are one of the most common patterns on the web. With use cases spanning from alerts and brief forms requesting data, to the now ubiquitous cookie settings prompt, these layered UI patterns are used frequently by developers.
From image sharing sites to online stores, image galleries are a common pattern on the web. Images can be very data heavy, and loading images can make the page take a long time to load. In addition, users have high expectations around the usability of galleries, so it’s common to…
One of the goals when writing CSS is to build component parts that will adapt well to different (and unexpected) contexts. Ideally, a component can be placed inside any “container” element without it feeling broken or out of place. How can you accomplish this in a complex layout like a…