In the web development world, you’ve probably heard the term “CSS4” floating around. But if you’ve ever tried to find a CSS4 specification on the official W3C or WHATWG websites, you likely came up short. So what’s going on? Is CSS4 real? What does it actually mean? In this article, we’ll demystify the term, walk through key new CSS features often associated with “CSS4,” and discuss what frontend developers really need to know.
First Things First: Is CSS4 Real?
Technically speaking, no — there is no official specification called “CSS4” from W3C or WHATWG.
Unlike HTML5, which was a clearly defined specification update, CSS has moved to a modular system. That means different parts of the language — like Selectors, Flexbox, Grid, Variables, Cascade Layers, and so on — evolve and are versioned independently.
For example:
CSS Selectors Level 4 is real
CSS Color Level 5 is real
CSS Grid Layout Level 1 and 2 are real
But there is no monolithic “CSS4” spec
So why do people talk about CSS4? It’s more of a marketing term or collective label for modern CSS features that have arrived since the days of CSS3.
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