From the translator : this is the answer to Glazman ’s article “Call to Action: The Open Web * needs you * now *” .



A few years ago, WebKit developers began implementing experimental CSS features in an open source project. Since these functions were not officially part of the CSS standard, the -webkit prefix was added to them to ensure that these functions would not affect any current and future declarations, as well as the sense that they only work in WebKit. But now, a few years later, the CSS Working Group working group decided to correct the “harm” caused by sites that use WebKit-specific functions. Otherwise, they say, "it will destroy the current procedure for approving standards."



Well, I very much hope that the standards approval process in the W3C and the CSS Working Group will actually be destroyed.



The co-chairman of the CSS Working Group, Daniel Glazman, published an appeal on his website , titled: “Call to Action: The Open Web * Now * Needs You” ( translated into Russian ):

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WebKit, the rendering engine at the heart of Safari and Chrome, which runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, has now become absolutely dominant in the mobile web. Technically, the mobile web is filled with sites that only work on WebKit, while other browsers and their users suffer from this. [...]



Without your help, without a strong reaction, this can only lead to one thing, and we are now dangerously close to this result: other browsers will also begin to maintain / implement the -webkit- * prefix, turning the experimental version of the function into a new universal standard. Thus, the only implementation will become a world monopoly. Again. This will destroy our standard adoption procedure. There can be no other option, the only question is the timing of when this will happen. [...]



I also ask WebKit browser makers, namely Apple and Google, to provide as soon as possible to the CSS Working Group a full technical description for proprietary CSS-like functions that they have given to the whole world on their iOS and Android devices, thereby harming the Open Network.

The use of the -webkit prefix was necessary for a simple reason: the W3C and CSS Working Group are inefficient, discredited organizations. The web is a vibrant, evolving platform, and it’s not possible to effectively release versions of standards every 8-10 years, after political discussions. HTML5 specifications took six years to get the status of “recommendations for a standard” (it has not even been approved as an official W3C standard and this will happen no earlier than 2014) - this is a huge harm to the evolution of the Internet. For the web to evolve in line with the pace of development of the rest of the technology industry, the standardization procedure needs to be changed.



The WebKit features that were recently implemented with the -webkit prefix are the greatest CSS enhancement for ten years, and the co-chair of the working group calls them "CSS-like properties." If WebKit developers were waiting for the approval and approval of the next version of the official CSS standard, it would take another ten years. Without the experimental features in WebKit, the web would clearly be worse. I myself use many of the specific properties of CCS in WebKit on my website , and the Kudos button to the right of each article over which the cursor needs to be held is made almost entirely on the properties of CSS animation, first described and implemented for WebKit.



Glazman's blog post is a sad side effect of an inefficient, closed organization. This confession is a failure. Although they have representatives from the developers of all major browsers, the working group was not able to work out a solution. What does this say about the organization?

Future

At some point, and I hope, very soon, the way the standards for the web are adopted has to change. A decade lag due to disputes and bureaucracy is unacceptable for every official W3C standard. Browser developers, frozen in anticipation of progress on standards, have to act independently. This will become a serious problem.



The creation of the web is not yet complete. The network needs a fast evolution for self-determination. The first step on this path is to create a standards organization that can provide the fast innovations we need.