CSS :is

By  on  

There are scores of developers who hate CSS; don't get it, don't want to get it, etc. Most of that is either down to inefficiencies within the language or misunderstanding of how to properly construct a website structure. I mostly love CSS but there are some parts of the language that I always hated, like having to repeat very similar selectors. That's why I was so happy when I saw CSS :is ; a method of avoid duplication within your selector structure!

You all remember this mindless CSS repetition:

section h1,
section h2, 
section h3,
article h1,
article h2,
article h3 {
  /* styles here */
}

I always loathed having to do that -- lots of maintenance cost and bloated CSS files. This is where :is comes to the rescue:

:is(section, article) :is(h1, h2, h3) {
  /* styles here */
}

is: is a perfect summary of how a tiny addition to the CSS language can make a developer's life just a bit easier!

Recent Features

  • By
    LightFace:  Facebook Lightbox for MooTools

    One of the web components I've always loved has been Facebook's modal dialog.  This "lightbox" isn't like others:  no dark overlay, no obnoxious animating to size, and it doesn't try to do "too much."  With Facebook's dialog in mind, I've created LightFace:  a Facebook lightbox...

  • By
    CSS Filters

    CSS filter support recently landed within WebKit nightlies. CSS filters provide a method for modifying the rendering of a basic DOM element, image, or video. CSS filters allow for blurring, warping, and modifying the color intensity of elements. Let's have...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Create a Dynamic Flickr Image Search with the Dojo Toolkit

    The Dojo Toolkit is a treasure chest of great JavaScript classes.  You can find basic JavaScript functionality classes for AJAX, node manipulation, animations, and the like within Dojo.  You can find elegant, functional UI widgets like DropDown Menus, tabbed interfaces, and form element replacements within...

  • By
    Introducing MooTools ScrollSide

    This post is a proof of concept post -- the functionality is yet to be perfected. Picture this: you've found yourself on a website that uses horizontal scrolling instead of vertical scrolling. It's an artistic site so you accept that the site scrolls left to right.

Discussion

  1. Rahul Kumar

    There is two important facts about :is() :-

    1. If one/more selectors passed in it, are invalid then parser will still parse the entire code and apply the mentioned styles to other selectors except the invalid ones.

    2. It does not work with pseudo elements.

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!