Very interesting considering WebKit is moving away from prefixes: https://webkit.org/blog/6131/updating-our-prefixing-policy/
The features WebKit needs to keep around to continue to work with many websites are presumably about the same as those Firefox felt it had to implement to work with many websites.
(Disclaimer: I work on Firefox.)
remember when Microsoft was the first to ship a browser shipped by default and dictated the standards by releasing it as they saw fit in that monopolistic browser? (for the kids of today, devs from that day loved ie just like you love chrome today. IE invented the developer panel and ajax request, both things you live by today)
well, Google (the irony) sued and won. Microsoft had to remove IE from Windows, and browser vendors agreed to not force standards themselves. that is the only reason we have prefixes. it send the message "we think it's cool, but wait for everyone to agree on the best way to implement this".
without prefixes, Google, having the browser monopoly (since Android is the new windows) can dictate the direction as it see fits. just like Microsoft when they sued them.
I don't think you understand how prefixes are used in the wild. Vendor prefixes re-inforce monoculture, they don't prevent it.
What on earth are you talking about? This is not a thing that ever happened.
Consider Mozilla's perspective... they're trying to refocus on Firefox[1] and immediately after they find a suitable place for Thunderbird[2] they release support for WebKit prefixes while Apple announces dropping the same prefixes. Not only does this mean Mozilla arguably wasted time, it also means they'll have this prefix code as an artifact for some time while it becomes increasingly irrelevant. At the same time, it makes Firefox seem antiquated while the floor falls out from under its user base[3].
1. http://news.softpedia.com/news/mozilla-wants-to-ditch-thunde... 2. http://news.softpedia.com/news/two-foundations-are-willing-t... 3. http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
They completely agree how to proceed, Firefox and Chrome both moved to using feature flags instead of vendor prefixes a while back, but there are so many -webkit- prefixed "advanced" properties in the wild, and developers only testing their site in Chrome (which hasn't removed the old prefixed properties for compatibility reasons) that Mozilla felt compelled to add support for these. Incidentally, they're following Opera[0] and Microsoft[1] in doing so.
> while Apple announces dropping the same prefixes
Apple didn't announce dropping support for existing prefixed properties (at best they noted that they may remove some over time depending on compatibility needs), only that new features will be gated instead of prefixed going forwards.
> it also means they'll have this prefix code as an artifact for some time while it becomes increasingly irrelevant.
Prefixed properties are just specific names, the vendor prefix is incidental, Mozilla implemented and enabled a bunch of properties named -webkit-{something} instead of {something}.
[0] http://www.sitepoint.com/opera-css3-webkit-prefix/
[1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt270097%28v=vs.85%...
"WebKit’s new policy is to implement experimental features unprefixed"
But Mozilla still plans for experimental features to be prefixed:
"Mozilla supports a number of extensions to CSS that are prefixed with -moz-.
Some of these properties have been included in draft CSS specification for inclusion in the final recommendation, but are still experimental... Once standardized, and the support for the un-prefixed variant added, the prefixed properties are dropped."
> But Mozilla still plans for experimental features to be prefixed:
The quote doesn't support your interpretation, it only indicates that there are -moz-prefixed experimental properties, just as there are -webkit-prefixed experimental properties.
[0] well there is a display: -moz-grid value for display but it's a historical XUL property unrelated to the CSS Grid Layout module: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=616605#c10