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The challenge till this is widely supported (caniuse.com currently pegs it at 46% globally [1]) will be using this as a progressive enhancement that does not pr

The challenge till this is widely supported (caniuse.com currently pegs it at 46% globally [1]) will be using this as a progressive enhancement that does not provide a worse or unusable experience for users with browsers not supporting it yet. In other words, don’t include critical information or functionality in the new styling that isn’t available in the underlying plain select element! But such is always a good practice anyway. Very nice to see this taking shape though! Should be a huge improvement over the div monster that custom select box replacements often are. :) [1] https://caniuse.com/mdn-css_properties_appearance_base-select https://caniuse.com/mdn-css_properties_appearance_base-selec...

no_wizard 1y ago
The perpetual 5 year problem of web development. I wish there was a way to do forward standards
bsimpson 1y ago
> But such is always a good practice anyway. One more reminder to develop for people who may not perceive color and shape as you do. If you're hiding critical information in your menu styles, that information is presumably inaccessible to people who are using a screen reader.
paddy_m 1y ago
This is true, and I try not to get eager about new browser improvements for this reason. But look at the porgress over time in browser abilities, it's astounding. The days are long but the years are short.
simiones 1y ago
You'll probably still keep a <div>-based control in your page, and selectively hide the <select> based one or this one, or generate different HTML for different browsers if you can do that.
ddoolin 1y ago
I agree that this is a huge improvement, but it's also over a decade late IMO. This should've been accomplished well before now, especially given that the issue has been there since the beginning.
- ksec 1y ago
  Over TWO decades late. It is crazy to think what we only just have in anything non JavaScript in the past 20 years.
- Cthulhu_ 1y ago
  It's like how border-radius was added after rounded corners via images fell out of fashion.
- true_religion 1y ago
  I somehow feel Safari drags its feet on basic things platform improvements because they want to focus on iOS apps instead.
  - alwillis 1y ago
    The narrative Safari is behind and Apple doesn’t care about the web is so tired… This 8,000+ word article on Safari 18.4 (released today, BTW) doesn’t read like an organization that doesn’t care about the web [1]. [1]: https://webkit.org/blog/16574/webkit-features-in-safari-18-4/ https://webkit.org/blog/16574/webkit-features-in-safari-18-4...
    - yujohn 1y ago
      [dead]
    - true_religion 1y ago
      The pace of improvement in the web is slow. I don’t want to debate if a mega corp cares or not, but compared to how UI frameworks were in the 90s, the developer experience is anemic. I don’t know if HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the best path forward. Maybe they are doing exactly what their spec set out to do. But we need something better that doesn’t leash one to an ecosystem that takes 30% of your revenue.
klysm 1y ago
This might be a bad take, but I think developers should also consider exactly which users are using their app. If it’s the entire internet, then absolutely you need to consider backwards compatibility. If it’s an internal app, then consider not caring and using new APIs.

no_wizard 1y ago

The perpetual 5 year problem of web development. I wish there was a way to do forward standards

bsimpson 1y ago

> But such is always a good practice anyway. One more reminder to develop for people who may not perceive color and shape as you do. If you're hiding critical information in your menu styles, that information is presumably inaccessible to people who are using a screen reader.

paddy_m 1y ago

This is true, and I try not to get eager about new browser improvements for this reason. But look at the porgress over time in browser abilities, it's astounding. The days are long but the years are short.

simiones 1y ago

You'll probably still keep a <div>-based control in your page, and selectively hide the <select> based one or this one, or generate different HTML for different browsers if you can do that.

ddoolin 1y ago

I agree that this is a huge improvement, but it's also over a decade late IMO. This should've been accomplished well before now, especially given that the issue has been there since the beginning.

ksec 1y ago
Over TWO decades late. It is crazy to think what we only just have in anything non JavaScript in the past 20 years.
Cthulhu_ 1y ago
It's like how border-radius was added after rounded corners via images fell out of fashion.
true_religion 1y ago
I somehow feel Safari drags its feet on basic things platform improvements because they want to focus on iOS apps instead.
- alwillis 1y ago
  The narrative Safari is behind and Apple doesn’t care about the web is so tired… This 8,000+ word article on Safari 18.4 (released today, BTW) doesn’t read like an organization that doesn’t care about the web [1]. [1]: https://webkit.org/blog/16574/webkit-features-in-safari-18-4/ https://webkit.org/blog/16574/webkit-features-in-safari-18-4...
  - yujohn 1y ago
    [dead]
  - true_religion 1y ago
    The pace of improvement in the web is slow. I don’t want to debate if a mega corp cares or not, but compared to how UI frameworks were in the 90s, the developer experience is anemic. I don’t know if HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the best path forward. Maybe they are doing exactly what their spec set out to do. But we need something better that doesn’t leash one to an ecosystem that takes 30% of your revenue.

klysm 1y ago

This might be a bad take, but I think developers should also consider exactly which users are using their app. If it’s the entire internet, then absolutely you need to consider backwards compatibility. If it’s an internal app, then consider not caring and using new APIs.