I want to provide an update to my last blog post about the W3C process that we follow to develop and finalise Web Standards. The working group published the Release Candidate (RC) of the CSS 2.1 Test Suite on September 17. The next step is for the major browser vendors to submit their implementation reports using the working group’s template within one month from publication of the test suite. The group has set a deadline on October 18.
While each of the browser vendors works through the test suite there has been a flurry of activity on the CSS working group’s mailing list. As a result, the group updated the test suite at the weekend to incorporate the feedback so far. On Wednesday, Microsoft submitted the CSS 2.1 implementation report for IE9 Beta showing that IE9 passes 18960 of the 19403 tests (97.7%). You will be able to find the reports for other browsers here after they are submitted.
It’s taken a lot of hard work in partnership with others in the working group and the community to get to this point. Many people in the IE team have been involved in this project and we’re excited to be almost at the end. It feels like a long time since we submitted our first batch of CSS 2.1 tests alongside IE8 Beta 1.
While we’ll be glad to see CSS 2.1 finished, the real excitement comes from the knowledge that the CSS working group can focus attention solely on the new CSS3 modules that bring richer graphics to the web. Each of these modules has a dependency on finishing CSS 2.1.
Look out for the implementation reports coming from other browsers. These reports will be used to move CSS 2.1 to Proposed Recommendation status providing developers with a stable and interoperable CSS platform. I will blog again when we have more progress to report.
Adrian Bateman
Program Manager
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