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CSS

Posted by TJ Nuccio
TJ Nuccio
5,036 Points

Browser Prefixes: How necessary?

I've run into a bit of confusion surrounding this topic in my quest to achieve knowledge level 9000.

I've read conflicting suggestions regarding whether or not to even implement the use of browser prefixes. The 'against' argument has claimed how they muddy markup and waste valuable time rewriting statements for each prefix; something I think a lot of devs would agree with. Then of course, the 'for' side of the argument has mainly revolved around their necessity.

Bottom line: Can't find a definitive answer on the subject. I've ran HTML/CSS files in browsers without prefixes and (at least what I was running) they'd appear to render properly. Of the other instances of this question that I've seen on Slack weren't exactly definitive either.

Would love some help with this if anyone would care to help me out.

Thanks

1 Answer

Iain Simmons
MOD
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points
Iain Simmons
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points

I don't think you'll get a definitive answer for anything related to browser support, since it's an ever-changing environment, and the needs differ a great deal (many big organisations like government departments get stuck using old software and browsers, for instance).

Here's a promising article from CSS-Tricks, quoting from Webkit:

Updating Our Prefixing Policy

I think it depends on how important it is to you or your users that a particular feature functions or looks the same on different browsers. Also, if it is adding too much time to your development process, you should probably look at automating it somehow (most build tools and pre/post processors have functions for autoprefixing).

Just don't waste too much time worrying about it. It's just one of those things we have to deal with, for now.