= CSS vendor-prefix compatibility =
== problem summary ==
Sites that have WebKit-specific content and back-up content for everyone else.
-webkit- properties are used so much on mobile content in particular that non-WebKit browsers face a Prisoner's Dilemma problem, analogous to past quirks battles (e.g. 2003-4 era innerHTML and undetected document.all).
data: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=708406
== goals ==
The underlying open web goal:
* Open up the webkit-specific part of the web to other vendors in the same way that we had to be practical about what IE-proprietary or IE-only technologies to support.
== straw proposal ==
* Consider implementing some -webkit- prefixed properties.
== straw proposal downsides ==
* Unfortunately for the open web, implementing a -webkit- prefixed property (outside of WebKit) will nearly legitimize (make people assume they'll work forever) the use of -webkit- prefixed properties.
* ...
== possible downside mitigation ==
* In the short term we can at least remove pain for web authors and users.
* In the long term we can ensure the unprefixed properties (in CR drafts) work and encourage authors to switch to them.
* ...
== questions and methodology ==
* What are the thresholds (even approximate) for supporting an other-vendor prefixed property vs. not?
* How should we consider occurrence counts of -webkit- properties?
** Weighted by PageRank or equivalent?
* ...
== parsing other vendor prefixes approaches ==
* parse other vendor prefixed properties only in conjunction with parsing the equivalent unprefixed properties
* ...
== unprefixing principles ==
* unprefixing things early (before CR) should be an exceptional case
** what is the methodology for "exceptional" unprefixing?
* unprefixing things must be evaluated carefully on case-by-case basis.
* unprefixing is not something to do routinely just to "go faster" by a few months.
** put the energy first into contributing and passing test suites instead.
* ...
== Data on vendor-specific prefixes ==
Here's a summary of the data collection and analysis that has been conducted regarding the use of various CSS vendor-specific prefixes.