New drafts, CSS 2.1, css3-webfonts, css3-fonts, css3-background, css3-ui

A batch of new CSS drafts has just been published.

Four of the five (CSS21, css3-webfonts, css3-fonts and
css3-background) are meant to be the last working drafts before they
become "Candidate Recommendations." The deadline for comments on these
is August 30.

The fifth one, css3-ui, is a normal working draft.

CSS 2.1
    CSS level 2 revision 1
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-CSS21-20020802/

    This is the revised edition of CSS2. It has all the errata folded
    in, it omits all the features for which we don't expect sufficient
    implementations by the end of this year, and adds a few small
    things from CSS3 that we expect *will* be implemented this year.
    All in all, this should be the version of CSS that is "safe" for
    users of desktop browsers.

css3-webfonts
    CSS3 module: Web Fonts
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-webfonts-20020802

    Basically nothing changed since it was a chapter in CSS2. It has
    just been recast as a module for CSS3. Web Fonts allow fonts to be
    described inside a style sheet (Unicode coverage, measurements,
    download location and other characteristics), so that a browser
    can download the font if it is not available locally, or
    intelligently substitute or generate a similar font.

css3-fonts
    CSS3 module: Fonts
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-fonts-20020802

    All the properties to select a font for an element in the
    document. Compared to CSS2, there are a few new ones:
    'font-effect' (emboss, outline), 'font-smooth' (anti-aliasing),
    'font-emphasize' (alternatives to underlining, mostly for East
    Asian languages)

css3-background
    CSS3 module: Backgrounds
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-background-20020802

    Compared to CSS2, the new features are: stretching of background
    images, positioning relative to the border or the padding rather
    than the content, leaving the border's bacground transparent, and
    repeating images a fixed number of times rather than just one or
    infinite

css3-ui
    CSS3 module: Basic User Interface
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-ui-20020802

    This replaces the old series css3-userint, but is sufficiently
    different that we don't call it an update, but a new series. The
    old one has been marked "superseded." Especially interesting parts
    are the 'appearance' property, that makes an element look like a
    typical (platform dependent) button, menu, tooltip, etc.; and the
    keyboard-based navigation, including on devices with rather
    limited "keyboards," such as mobile phones or TVs.

    Note that 'appearance' only affects the *look* (borders, colors,
    fonts...) and not the meaning. Whether an element *acts* like a
    button is not determined by CSS. It may be defined by the document
    format or by some hypothetical "behavior" sheet.



Bert
-- 
  Bert Bos                                ( W 3 C ) http://www.w3.org/
  http://www.w3.org/people/bos/                              W3C/INRIA
  bert@w3.org                             2004 Rt des Lucioles / BP 93
  +33 (0)4 92 38 76 92            06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

Received on Monday, 5 August 2002 05:31:46 UTC