Internet, Networking, & Security Web Development What Is CSS3? An intro to the modularization of cascading style sheets level 3 by Jennifer Kyrnin Freelance Contributor Jennifer Kyrnin is a professional web developer who assists others in learning web design, HTML, CSS, and XML. our editorial process LinkedIn Jennifer Kyrnin Updated on March 09, 2020 Yurich84/Getty Images Web Development CSS & HTML Web Design SQL Tweet Share Email The biggest change that is for CSS level 3 is the introduction of modules. The advantage of modules is that it (supposedly) allows the specification to be completed and approved more quickly because segments are completed and approved in chunks. This also allows browser and user-agent manufacturers to support sections of the specification but keep their code bloat to a minimum by only supporting those modules that make sense. For example, a text reader wouldn't need to include modules that only define how an element is going to display visually. But even if it only included the aural modules, it would still be a standards-compliant CSS 3 tool. Some New Features of CSS 3 SelectorsSelectors in CSS 3 are very interesting. They allow the designer/developer to select on much more specific levels of the document. One of the nice things about this module is that many browsers already support the advanced CSS 3 selectors, so you can start trying them out now. For example, some selectors are:matching on attributes and attribute values, including partial matchesstructural pseudo-classes, such as the nth-childa target pseudo-class to style only elements that are targetted in the URLa checked pseudo-class to style any element that is checked such as radio or checkbox elementsText Effects and LayoutMaking changes to the hyphenation, whitespace, and justification of text in documents.First-Letter and First-Line Pseudo-ClassesCSS 3 should allow properties to affect the kerning and alignment of drop-caps.Paged Media and Generated ContentCSS 3 now supports more options in paged media, such as running headers and footers and page numbers. Plus there will be advanced properties for printing generated content including properties for footnotes and cross-references.Multi-Column LayoutRight now, the multi-column layout working draft provides properties to allow designers to display their content in multiple columns with definitions like the column-gap, column-count, and column-width.RubyCSS will now support the ability to add small annotations on top or next to words, most often used in Chinese and Japanese. They are generally used to give the pronunciation or meaning of difficult ideograms. CSS 3 Is Fun CSS 3 is a powerful tool for Web designers. The features listed above are only a small subset of all the additions and changes to the specification. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit