Re: [css-variables] Custom properties using the 'var' prefix? (Issue 1, !important)

On Sep 6, 2012 5:42 AM, "François REMY" <fremycompany_pub@yahoo.fr> wrote:
>
> Most of us don’t understand why, when ‘Variables properties’ were renamed
into ‘Custom properties’ in the spec, the spec itself wasn’t renamed ‘CSS
Custom Properties’ like our proposal is.
>
> Also, we contest the ‘var’ prefix being used. If ‘custom properties are
not variables’, using the ‘var’ keyword doesn’t make sense anymore.
>
> The name of CSS Custom Properties specification has been chosen on
purpose. Since this spec aims to differentiate itself from macro-like
functionality of preprocessed variables, it doesn't make sense for it to be
called CSS Variables. In fact, it doesn't define any variable at all, only
properties and property references.
>
> This specification uses the 'my' prefix for custom properties on purpose
for custom properties for three main reasons:
>
> It's the prefix that developers used naturally, for years, when they were
using or asking custom properties. If necessary, I can find a lot of
samples of that.
> It does clearly explain the status of the property: the property is
yours, you can use it for anything you would like to and the browser won't
mess up with your code.
> Meanwhile, it's a very short prefix that's not cumbersome to type.
> Beside this, this specification also replace the 'var' and 'parent-var'
functional notations with the more informative 'use()' and 'inherit()'
functions. It’s interesting to note that ‘color: inherit(color)’ has the
same behavior as ‘color: inherit’ in our proposal.

WRT the property prefix, why not create a list of candidates and have
someone like Tab or Lea blog an article that we can all tweet/share and get
a straw poll?  I think potential candidates people have mentioned:

var-
my-
author- / auth-
user-
cust-
set-
.... any single char .... x-, a-, u-, c-, etc.

Maybe pick a few of those, provide a short arg for each (or link to them
here) and just straw poll to see what people think.