Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-forms-1] Include fieldset and legend (#11983)

The CSS Working Group just discussed `[css-forms-1] Include fieldset and legend`, and agreed to the following:

* `RESOLVED: Remove all layout magic from fieldset and legend when fieldset has appearance:base`
* `RESOLVED: Fieldset border becomes 'border: 1px solid currentColor' in appearance:base`

<details><summary>The full IRC log of that discussion</summary>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: Fieldset is weird. Does this weird thing where the border stops at the legend.<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: To me feels bit off-topic from appearance?<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: Also seems somewhat interoperable.<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: We could improve default styelsheet<br>
&lt;iank_> q+<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: e.g. no good dark mode border for fieldset<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: that's fixable<br>
&lt;astearns> ack iank_<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: Fieldset is busted in every implementation to some extent<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: So there's value to letting developers opt out of all of that and just using regular layout<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: Only problem then is, fieldset just becomes useless<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: The thing they really want it for is special legend stuff<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: So I don't have an opinion either way<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: what's the pain with using the current thing? we need to know that<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: if it's just ua stylesheet stuff<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: They don't like the magic<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: just make it a regular element? that's doable<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: seems fine<br>
&lt;fantasai> iank_: why have a field set then<br>
&lt;kizu> q+<br>
&lt;TabAtkins> I do still want the "position over border" behavior to actually exists :(<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: It does have some HTML behavior. For example disabling a fieldset disables all the controls in it<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: It is a bit weird to tack it into appearance because it doesn't use appearance right now<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: appearance: none has no effect on fieldset right now<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: But let's say it disables the magic rendering legend?<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: If we need something else, can do that<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: Can people achieve the magic with anchorpos?<br>
&lt;fantasai> TabAtkins: no, can't get the border drawing behavior<br>
&lt;fantasai> fantasai: Should definitely opt it out of magic box stuff<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: Also change the color<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: to currentColor<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: even in not appearance:base<br>
&lt;fantasai> fantasai: idk about not appearance:base, but def for appearance:base<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: 2 asks are common<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: 1. Opt out of the special behavior.<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: For quite some time there were issues when you were trying to style fieldset as flex or grid, and legend wasn't participating<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: Lots of issues there. Opt out of magic and use regular layout would b enice.<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: However thing with border disappearing under legend is also something ppl want<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: I remember sometime ago, one of the F2F chatted with fantasai about somewhere in the future be able to exclude or merge boxes, and it would do this with CSS<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: with shape() stuff we're currently doing, maybe we will be able to do something like this<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: where we have two elements, and say that this element removes border by excluding<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: But that's far in the future<br>
&lt;fantasai> kizu: Right now, appearance:base removing the magic and making the border consistent with other inputs might be enough<br>
&lt;fantasai> astearns: Proposed resolution for appearance: base to turn off all the magic<br>
&lt;fantasai> astearns: and open new issue for the border magic<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: Ideally reproduce the border behavior with some standard CSS features<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: but I'd be ok with disabling the magic for now<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: Maybe even for not appearance:base<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: Not many ppl keep the default color<br>
&lt;fantasai> astearns: So turn off all the magic and turn the border to currentColor<br>
&lt;fantasai> astearns: we could start with appearance:base and then check for other appearance values<br>
&lt;fantasai> ntim: We did it for tables<br>
&lt;fantasai> emilio: If there's a compat issue, we'll walk back.<br>
&lt;fantasai> PROPOSED: Remove all layout magic from fieldset and legend when fieldset has appearance:base<br>
&lt;fantasai> RESOLVED: Remove all layout magic from fieldset and legend when fieldset has appearance:base<br>
&lt;emilio> https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/rev/e959a4adbef21a366443993ab176f43461d38c28/layout/style/res/forms.css#68<br>
&lt;fantasai> PROPOSED: Fieldset border becomes 'border: 2px solid currentColor'<br>
&lt;fantasai> PROPOSED: Fieldset border becomes 'border: 1px solid currentColor' in appearance:base<br>
&lt;fantasai> RESOLVED: Fieldset border becomes 'border: 1px solid currentColor' in appearance:base<br>
</details>


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Received on Wednesday, 1 April 2026 23:50:31 UTC