Re: A List Apart: Articles: Prefix or Posthack

On Jul 8, 2010, at 7:41 PM, Eric A. Meyer wrote:

> At 6:34 PM -0700 7/8/10, Boris Zbarsky wrote:
> 
>> What makes you think it costs little?
> 
>   I know you're asking Richard, but I'll step in and ask why it costs more than a little to do, in effect, this:
> 
>   if (property == '-moz-box-shadow' || property == 'box-shadow') boxShadow();
> 
> As it is, your choice to drop prefixed-property support is hostile to authors, and I'm having extreme difficulty understanding why you think it's a good idea to take that path.

The cost is much higher for properties with behavior that diverges between the prefixed property, and the non-prefixed property. Consider -webkit-gradient() vs. linear/radial-gradient(). Even for properties with syntax which is identical between the prefixed and non-prefixed versions, we may have to maintain behavioral differences.

And during standardization of a property, it's very common for the behavior of the property to change (box-shadow is a potential example).

Simon

Received on Friday, 9 July 2010 02:53:47 UTC