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Permit

How could one differentiate between different implementations in browsers?

Prefixes help. My favorite example is CSS gradients with transparency.

Mozilla: background-image: -moz-linear-gradient( rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7) 0%, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0) 95% );

IE 9: filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr=#550000FF, endColorstr=#550000FF );

IE 8: -ms-filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr=#550000FF, endColorstr=#550000FF );

Webkit: background-image: -webkit-gradient( linear, left top, left bottom, from(rgba(50,50,50,0.8)), to(rgba(80,80,80,0.2)), color-stop(.5,#333333) );

How would one properly differentiate between browsers implementing functionality differently in this case without prefixes? The only option would be to wait years for standards to be finalized and then implemented.

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Well, each of those values will only work correctly in one browser, other browsers would skip the ones they don't understand, yes?

Now the client wonders why the website looks so different in different browsers.

Eh? Did you even read what I posted? Browsers ignore CSS they don't understand, hence you can put several versions of a rule, and a browser will use the one it understands.

How is the browser supposed to magically discern developer intent?

What do you mean? Competing syntaxes usually don't get confused by browsers as being valid.

Because of the prefixes, yes the browser knows which properties to skip. But you were advocating removing prefixes, so I'm wondering how browser are supposed to differentiate between properties?

Eh? Have you ever done, say...

  color: rgb(255, 255, 255);

  color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);

Browser which do not support rgba simply ignore it and use the rgb() value.

Wait so you want them all to use the same prefix? So you'd have five properties called "filter:" or "background-image:"?

If my gradient looked bad in Mozilla, how on earth would the I know which property to change? They'd seem identical unless I memorized every single browser specific implementation of every CSS property.

Comments exist, you know.

It's not like we don't have this issue already with different versions of the same engine changing syntax.

Code should be self-documeting. You're proposing we remove something that serves to differentiate between properties in favor of simply adding the exact same information in the form of a comment.

Only where necessary. Where browsers do not disagree, it saves developers time and effort.

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