As the latest standard for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), CSS3 makes it easier for programmers to create web applications that look good on both computers and mobile devices. Also, the developers can combine HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to build a variety of mobile web apps. Despite being backward-compatible with earlier versions of CSS, CSS3 includes several new modules. These new modules make it easier for developers to create web applications and mobile apps by targeting multiple devices, operating systems, and browsers.

12 Important Features of CSS3 Each Web Developer Must Use

1) Selectors

CSS3 comes with a number of advanced selectors. The developers can use the CSS3 selectors in addition to the CSS2 selectors. The new selectors make it easier for developers to choose and style DOM elements based on their attributes. Hence, they are no longer required to specify classes and IDs for each element. The new CSS3 selectors will help the developers to keep the layout clean and stylesheets maintainable.

2) Box Model

The box sizing property of CSS3 enables programmers to add padding and border to the entire border and width of an element. The developers can simply use the box-sizing rule to make the elements behave in the expected way. Also, the box model will no longer add the border and padding to the specified height and width of the element.

3) Flexbox

CSS3 comes with a new layout mode called flexible box or flexbox. The developers can use flexbox to keep the behaviour of elements unchanged across varying displays and screen size of devices. The developers can easily keep the behaviour of elements static across multiple devices by replacing block model with flexible box model.

4) Animations

The feature makes it easier for developers to animate most HTML element. They can further animate the HTML elements without using JavaScript or Flash. The feature helps developers to make web pages more interactive and responsive without writing additional code.

5) Transitions

The transitions feature of CSS3 makes it easier for developers to change property values over a specific duration. The developers can create transition effects simply by specifying the CSS property to which the effect will be added and duration of the effect. The transition effect will start automatically each time the value of a particular property changes.

6) 2D/3D Transformations

The updated standard for CSS supports both 3D and 2D transformations. The developers can use transformations as an effect to change an element’s size, shape, and position. Also, they can use the 2D or 3D transformations to rotate, translate, skew, and scale various elements without writing additional code.

7) User Interface

The user interface features provided by CSS3 simplifies the process of resizing elements, boxes, and outlines. The developers can use resize property to specify if a user can change the size of the particular element. Likewise, they can use the outline-offset property add space between the outline and the element’s border/edge. Additionally, they can avail a number of CSS3 user interface properties including box-sizing, nav-index, nav-up, nav-down, nav-left and nav-right.

8) Gradients

The feature enables developers to create gradient backgrounds by transitioning between multiple colors. Hence, the developers are not longer required to create gradient backgrounds with images. The use of colors will further help developers to enhance the application’s user experience by reducing download time and bandwidth consumption.

9) Web Fonts

Most developers nowadays use Google web font to make the web pages look distinct and stylish. But the web fonts are generated on the client’s system. Hence, developers have to check if the web font is compatible with the browser and client system. CSS3 allows developers to include web fonts into a page remotely through the @font-face property. Hence, the developers can now use a variety of custom web fonts without checking their compatibility with browsers and client systems.

10) RGBA (Red, Green, Blue and Alpha channels)

While using CSS2, the developers have to add color to various HTML elements through RGB property called RGBA. The developers can take advantage of the RGBA property to set colors to the HTML elements with alpha channels, along with colors like red, green and blue. The alpha channels make it easier for developers to control the opacity of web pages more efficiently.

11) Multi-Column Layout

The web application developers have to divide a web page into multiple columns and boxes to make it look good on varying devices. The multicolumn layout property of CSS3 simplifies the process of creating and positioning various boxes and columns. The developers can now create responsive web pages by creating columns simply by specifying the number of columns required.

12) Media Queries

The new feature of CSS3 makes it easier for developers to check media types supported by individual devices. The developers can use the media queries feature to check the device’s height, width, resolution, and orientation. Also, they can use the feature to check the height and width of the view port. Hence, the developers can take advantage of the media query feature of CSS3 to deliver customized stylesheets to individual devices and platforms.

On the whole, CSS3 comes with several new modules along with old CSS specification. The developers can use specific CSS modules according to precise needs of each application. They can further use the modules to build applications with concise and readable code base. However, the CSS3 features supported by individual web browsers differ. Hence, the developers must keep in mind the compatibility of each new CSS3 feature with major web browsers while writing code.