In the face of bewildering advancements in the front end, it's useful to take a step back and take stock of where the fundamentals are headed: namely HTML and CSS. These two lowly languages have been largely left by the wayside as we front-enders scream ahead with abstractions and frameworks. But where are HTML and CSS headed exactly? This session examines progress working groups have made to the existing standards, techniques that are already or will soon be available for developers, and some of the proposals being floated around the standards.

We'll devote our attention to the following questions: How far have HTML and CSS come? What upcoming techniques or proposed additions are most relevant to us as Drupalists? What does the future of HTML and CSS look like in terms of cross-browser compatibility, programmatic approaches, and more extensive possibilities? What are Web Components and the Shadow DOM? How can we prepare for the approaching future of HTML and CSS?

Just some of what we will delve into:

• A brief retrospective: Where are we now?
• The current rendering engine landscape
• Vendor prefixes: Dead but not extinct
• New selectors, combinators, and pseudo-classes
• Flexbox, Grid, and other layout schemes
• CSS backgrounds, borders, and gradients
• CSS variables and extensions
• Web Components and the Shadow DOM
• HTML custom elements and imports
• General implications for Drupal
• ... and much more

This session is geared toward front-end developers, themers, and designers interested in a robust crash course in where HTML and CSS are headed in the short and long term. This session also assumes an advanced understanding of modern HTML and CSS. Though some of these techniques are still unavailable for general use, this session will give you the tools to engage in the discussion and to plan for the future of markup and style.

About me

Preston So has designed websites since 2001 and built them in Drupal in 2007. He is a Software Engineer at Time Inc. and also co-founded the Southern Colorado User Group. Since 2008, Preston has spoken at conferences and camps across the U.S. (most recently at DrupalCon Portland 2013) on topics such as design, theming, usability, responsive design, and cutting-edge code.