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# CSS current work & how to participate

## CSS specifications

This page contains a list of all completed specifications and drafts by the CSS WG (formerly ‘CSS & FP WG’). If you want to follow the development of CSS3, this is the place to start. You have ideas? Contributions? See ‘If you want to help’ on this page.

A specification is not a manual. There is no excuse for badly written drafts and please complain if you find one. But specs do target a specific audience. See fantasai's Understanding the CSS Specifications.. J. David Eisenberg has written another useful How to read W3C specs. Or you can read about ‘modules,’ ‘levels,’ ‘snapshots’ and the CSS process.

## What's new?

- 2018-11-15 New Working Draft: CSS Shadow Parts. New Note: CSS Snapshot 2018.
- 2018-11-08 Updated Candidate Recommendation: CSS Containment Level 1. Updated Candidate Recommendation: CSS Flexible Box Layout Level 1.
- 2018-11-06 New Recommendation: Selectors Level 3.
- 2018-10-18 Updated Working Draft: CSS Paged Media Level 3.
- 2018-10-11 Updated Working Draft: CSS Animations Level 1. Updated Working Draft: CSS Transitions.

## Table of specifications

Ordered from most to least stable:

Completed | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
CSS Snapshot 2018 | NOTE |  | Latest stable CSS | ℹ⃝
CSS Snapshot 2017 | NOTE |  | Latest stable CSS | ℹ⃝
CSS Snapshot 2015 | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Snapshot 2010 | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Snapshot 2007 | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Color Level 3 | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Namespaces | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Level 2 Revision 1 | REC | REC | See Errata | ℹ⃝
Media Queries | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Style Attributes | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Fonts Level 3 | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Basic User Interface Level 3 | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
Stable | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
Selectors Level 3 | REC | REC |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 3 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Conditional Rules Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Multi-column Layout Level 1 | WD | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Values and Units Level 3 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Cascading and Inheritance Level 3 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Writing Modes Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Counter Styles Level 3 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
Testing | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Speech | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Flexible Box Layout Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Text Decoration Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Shapes Level 1 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Masking Level 1 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Fragmentation Level 3 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Cascading Variables | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
Compositing and Blending Level 1 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Syntax Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Grid Layout Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Display Level 3 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Will Change Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
Media Queries Level 4 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
Geometry Interfaces Level 1 | CR | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Cascading and Inheritance Level 4 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Scroll Snap Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Painting API Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Containment Level 1 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Writing Modes Level 4 | CR | PR |  | ℹ⃝
Refining | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Animations Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Web Animations | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Text Level 3 | WD | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Transforms | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Transitions | WD | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Box Alignment Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Selectors Level 4 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Preview of CSS Level 2 | FPWD | NOTE |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Easing Functions Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Revising | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Paged Media Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSSOM View | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Intrinsic & Extrinsic Sizing Level 3 | WD | CR |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Ruby Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Overflow Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Pseudo-Elements Level 4 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Exploring | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Level 4 |  | FPWD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Device Adaptation | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Exclusions | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Filter Effects | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Generated Content for Paged Media | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Page Floats | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Template Layout | NOTE | NOTE |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Line Grid | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Lists Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Positioned Layout Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Regions | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Table Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Object Model | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Font Loading | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Scoping Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Non-element Selectors | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Inline Layout Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Motion Path Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Round Display Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Basic User Interface Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Text Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Properties and Values API Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Typed OM Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Worklets Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Color Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Fonts Level 4 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Rhythmic Sizing Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Level 4 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Fill and Stroke Level 3 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Overflow Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Grid Layout Level 2 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Text Decoration Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Layout API Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Values and Units Level 4 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Scrollbars Level 1 | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Shadow Parts | FPWD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Rewriting | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Box Model Level 3 | WD | WD | Dangerously outdated; see CSS 2.1 | ℹ⃝
CSS Generated Content Level 3 | WD | WD |  | ℹ⃝
Abandoned | Current | Upcoming | Notes | ℹ⃝
CSS Level 1 | SPSD |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Print Profile | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Mobile Profile 2.0 | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
The CSS 'Reader' Media Type | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Presentation Levels | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS TV Profile 1.0 | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Marquee | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
Behavioral Extensions to CSS | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
CSS Hyperlink Presentation | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝
Fullscreen | NOTE |  |  | ℹ⃝

Some related specifications by other Working Groups:

Title | Current | Notes
--- | --- | ---
Predefined Counter Styles | NOTE | I18N WG
CSS Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 | NOTE | WCAG WG
Associating Style Sheets with XML documents 1.0 (Second Edition) | REC | XML Core WG
The 'view-mode' Media Feature | REC | Web Applications WG
Selectors API Level 1 | REC | Web Applications WG
Selectors API Level 2 | NOTE | Web Applications WG

See also: Jens Meiert's index of properties.

People who are reviewing CSS drafts might be interested in these indexes that include both official and editors' drafts: properties [HTML] [TSV] [XML] [JSON] and descriptors [HTML] [TSV] [XML] [JSON].

## Explanation of colors & status codes

W3C indicates the maturity of specifications by a status code. The CSS working group uses the following, from least to most stable:

Abbreviation | Full name
--- | ---
FPWD | First Public Working Draft
WD | Working Draft
CR | Candidate Recommendation
PR | Proposed Recommendation
REC | Recommendation
SPSD | Superseded Recommendation

The following code indicates a document that is not intended to become a standard:

Abbreviation | Full name
--- | ---
NOTE | Working Group Note

The names are defined in section 6 of the W3C process document. A REC is what is normally referred to as a ‘standard.’ W3C encourages everyday use starting from CR.

The informal stability levels used to group the specs are defined in this 2007 description of CSS stability levels.

## If you want to help

Everybody can take part in the discussions on the archived mailing list www-style@w3.org. You can subscribe yourself. This is the preferred place for discussions, because the members of the working group will see them. Please, don't use this list for questions of the type How do I… Use comp. infosystems. www. authoring. stylesheets ("ciwas") or see ‘Learning CSS’.

On the mailing list, you will be talking to many people, many very busy people. Before you post, please, search the archive to see if your great idea has maybe already been discussed. Follow the usual netiquette and W3C's policies on spam, attachments, etc.

If you are sending comments on a specific CSS module, please prefix the subject of your message with the appropriate spec code (given in the ‘Status of this document’ section) in brackets, e.g. ‘[css3-flexbox] error in margin calculations’. This will help the editors find and track your comments.

Laurens Holst (a.k.a. ‘Grauw’) maintains an FAQ for www-style. (For additions, please, contact Laurens directly. Laurens is not associated with W3C.)

You can also raise issues via GitHub. Github contains copies of the editors' drafts of the CSS specifications and ‘Houdini’ APIs.

Birkir Gunnarsson wrote a helpful guide Mastering GitHub with a screen reader, part 1.

If you work for a W3C member organization, you can also join the CSS working group and come to its meetings. To participate, you need to commit to (on average) 1 day per week. Contact me (Bert Bos) or your organization's W3C contact person. The group's minutes are public and posted on the CSS WG blog.

There are many ways to keep up to date with new publications by the CSS WG. The ‘What's new?’ section above shows the most recent drafts and it also has an Atom feed. Publications are announced on the CSS WG's blog and its Atom feed, and the group's Mastodon and Twitter accounts. First drafts from all W3C working groups appear on the public-review-announce mailing list and its RSS feed. The latest publications from all W3C working groups are at the top of the Technical Reports page, which also has an RSS feed.

## About the test suites

The CSS working group intends to spend a lot of time on developing the CSS test suites along with the CSS specifications. By providing a test suite for each module as soon as the module is published, we hope not only that CSS3 implementations will conform to the specification much earlier, but also that people will have an easier time understanding the formal text of the spec.

The test suites have their own archived mailing list public-css-testsuite@w3.org. Please send error reports, test case submissions, and any other questions and comments about the CSS test suites there. Elika Etemad maintains the CSS Testing Wiki with more info for contributors.

Raising issues via GitHub is also possible: see the Web-platform tests repository.

## Mark-up conventions

The source mark-up of the specifications follows certain conventions (which is useful for automatic processing).

## Site navigation

- CSS home
- Learn & use
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- Participate / drafts

Last updated Fri 16 Nov 2018 04:38:33 PM UTC

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