Vendor Css prefixes

This post tries to explain my points of view as a web developer about the Vendor prefixes issue:

Introduction

Css prefixes for experimental features are fine. They are a clear signal that something is being tested but it's not a standard, they allow browser vendors to create new features and test them without having to wait for the approval from everyone else, they allow to check how they can be used and whether they create unexpected problems or not.

So yes to keep vendor prefixes alive.

But...

The problem is when those prefixes spread all around the web and people start using them all over the place. Then the browser vendor will argue that they can't change them as people are already relying on them, other vendors have to provide their own implementation (with their prefixes) to avoid being left behind but even if they provide those same features they see that people are testing only on the native browsers of iPhones and Androids, both based on Webkit.

And this is the current situation: non-webkit browsers areclaiming that the use and abuse of -webkit is so strong that they are being forced to support in their own engines some -webkit features.

My opinion about how to deal with it

First rule should be that no browser manufacturer is allowed to ship experimental features in release versions of their browsers. Those experimental features should be restricted only to the alphas and betas, when a final version is released, it should allow only the unprefixed version if that feature has gained traction and it has been "approved" or don't ship it at all.

With "approved" I don't mean that it requires a final status, just a state where other vendors agree that it can be useful, it will be (or it's already) implemented that way by them and of course there's a spec stating how does it work.

Of course this is a big problem, you'll see them screaming and kicking around before accepting this. They prefer to keep on doing their little tricks and pushing whatever it's in their heads and releasing it to the wild to give them an advantage over the competition. But the fact is that even if this is the standarized way to create propietary features, we're back to the Netscape 3 era where each browser introduced new features without caring about the other one and then that other browser had to copy and replicate the successful features of the first one.

We know that it was bad for the developers, why is that good now?

Second step:

When a browser replicates the propietary feature of another one, it should support ASAP the feature both with their own prefix as well as the unprefixed one. If the feature is not good enough or not clearly defined to support the unprefixed version then it's obvious that it doesn't make sense to support the prefix from the other browser.

That would allow web developers to start testing the prefixed version from the first vendor and if it's clear that it's good enough they can put only the unprefixed version and all the browsers will be handled at once.

Third course of action:

Evangelism on sites that teach new CSS3 features, they shouldn't generate anything with a vendor prefix, just use the standard so it can work in all the browsers.

I don't think that most of the web developers are going to write huge amounts of css by themselves, instead they will look at some generator for backgrounds, buttons, patterns and copy whatever it's there. They might not know what's a vendor prefix, they just see that they can copy that code and it works. Given that some vendors (I'm looking at you Microsoft) make it really difficult to test the new versions of their browsers, you can't expect the developers to remember to add the -ms all around because they won't notice if it works or not; they just know that they have to keep on supporting IE8 for a number of years and that it doesn't support fancy things so they won't care too much about what's next for the few ones willing to buy a new computer.

I know that almost no one will care about my opinion, but at least I hope that someone else in the whole world agrees with me that these would be good steps.