w3c / w3c/csswg-drafts

[css-variables] Custom properties should *not* serialize "exactly as specified"

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css-variables-1
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Description

Consider this code:

var s = document.body.style;
s.setProperty("--a", "a(");
s.setProperty("--b", "b");

The spec says "Specified values of custom properties must be serialized exactly as specified by the author". That's what Blink does, but it's bad!

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a("
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // "b"
s.cssText; // "--a:a(; --b:b;"

s.cssText = s.cssText;

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a(; --b:b;"
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // ""
s.cssText; // "--a:a(; --b:b;;"

s.cssText = s.cssText;

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a(; --b:b;;"
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // ""
s.cssText; // "--a:a(; --b:b;;;"

s.cssText = s.cssText;

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a(; --b:b;;;"
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // ""
s.cssText; // "--a:a(; --b:b;;;;"

I think Firefox is better, since it round-trips:

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a()"
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // "b"
s.cssText; // "--a: a(); --b: b;"

s.cssText = s.cssText;

s.getPropertyValue("--a"); // "a()"
s.getPropertyValue("--b"); // "b"
s.cssText; // "--a: a(); --b: b;" 

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the CSS Custom Properties section linked in the issue, then reproduce the shown setProperty and cssText round-trip cases. Compare the described Blink and Firefox behavior and determine the specification change needed so custom properties round-trip without consuming later declarations. Done means the expected serialization behavior is agreed and reflected in the draft.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
css
Domain
documentation, web-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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