In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk with Adam Argyle about how stuff gets added to CSS.

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Guests

Adam Argyle

Show Notes

01:48 - Who are you and what do you do?

04:13 - How does stuff get added to CSS?

06:44 - Github issue proposal or public document

Shares use case
Problem made succinct
StrawMan solution
JS demo

10:12 - Time

Multiple proposals
Comments
Back and forth
Bikeshedding

20:00 - Editor’s draft spec (Stage 1)

CSS typed
Examples
Provided code logic
Implementor interest
- Can go stale
- Explainer
Implementor
- Prototype behind flags in browser
- Intent to Prototype (I2P)

24:42 - Working Draft (Stage 2)

WPTs
Prototype behind flags in browser
Needs two or more to graduate
Intent to Ship (I2S)

24:54 - Conference Calls

Around 10 items to discuss
- Issues or proposals
Flexible list
- Things can be injected as emergency
- Things can get punted to the next call

25:26 - Face 2 Face (F2F)

Four times a year
Presentations
Breakout sessions
Houdini focus groups, etc
Try to resolve as many Github issues as possible

27:34 - Candidate Recommendation (Stage 3)

Could still be behind a flag
- Edge cases are being worked through
- WPTs and standards are being nudged into a final state

44:20 - Roles

Spec author
Community Member
- Print
- Color
- Internationalization
- Box Model
- AOM
- JS APIs
- Renderers
- etc
Implementor
It’s like pub/sub, where spec authors pub and implementors sub, and the community tries to help shape the message that’s published while supporting the subscribers who need to implement and make it real

46:32 - Questions

What language is CSS written in?
What's the deal with Houdini?

Links

https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts
@rachelandrew
@hj_chen
Incomplete List of Mistakes in the Design of CSS
10 Things I Regret About Node
https://ishoudinireadyyet.com/

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Shameless Plugs

Adam: The CSS Podcast
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