Just in case you missed it: The CSS3 preview.

What with standardists ruling the web trends scene right now, the emergence of a new specification template for CSS is bound to be a major point of consideration in future endeavors. It is not, however, going to be remembered as the be-all and end-all of web design in the current web culture.

But, why not?

We’re getting trickier as designers and developers. Sure, now we’re offered fading and new colour options and borders and easier dropshadows, but aren’t these things we’ve already been able to do as it stands with a little graphical manipulation, possibly some client-side goodness, and it all still came out as standards compliant?

The long and the short of it: this will help designers ease their workload, but ultimately will not change the face of the web, especially in light of the web2.0 trends that are so prevalent and deadset in their ways as they are. The likelihood that Internet Explorer’s next incarnation will support png alpha fades to the extent that standardists were hoping are looking fairly slim, and the rest of the listed provisions for CSS3 don’t look like mainstays for IE7 either.

And it’s not like the text-shadow function won’t be used by every myspace hipster at any given juncture. All indications point to that becoming as useful and user-friendly as the blink effect once was.

Maybe I’m just being bitter, though. Maybe I’m simply upset that, even though my April Fools’ specifications were far superior, they were largely ignored by the W3C. I’m sure this will usher in many non-standardists eager to learn some CSS tricks, but is that really the test market that the W3C is aiming for?

My contention is that there needs to be firstly, a more active agreement between popular browsers and the W3C to bring functionality together with potential, and secondly, a stronger push for community involvement and a better learning environment for the new specifications.

But that’s me - what do you think? What is css3 missing, and what does it concentrate too hard on?

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The posts W3C’s CSS spec updates, What happened to :: ?, We have a friend! Presenting Design Deconstruct, How Big Is Too Big?, Accessibility - Let it be for all, are related to this post.

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