It does seem odd that a preprocessor would adhere to (or even promote) a single methodology, but it's a testament to the value of Sass, Less, and the rest that

It does seem odd that a preprocessor would adhere to (or even promote) a single methodology, but it's a testament to the value of Sass, Less, and the rest that they've grown to the point that new branches can sprout. Disclaimer: this is my first look at BEM, but I've designed and lived with CSS frameworks that started with the similar goals (fast to develop, multiple authors, reusable structure and code) and ended with similar structure (ok, not the HTML as XML bits). Much of BEM's selector design seems to flow from the principles that 1) the cascade is difficult to manage, and 2) a single very-specific class is easier to write and maintain than combining multiple single-purpose classes. BEM selectors encourage a modular approach to creating very-specific selectors, unlike the traditional 'semantic' approach of uniquely describing the expected content without acknowledging definitions or purposes shared by other elements. But despite all of that, I agree with you - this sort of approach is a total nightmare to implement. But that's because, well, CSS isn't very good. It's a real bitch to do anything significant in scope or sophistication, really. Preprocessors have made it possible to move beyond severely basic limitations (thank goodness for Sass mixins, extends, control directives, bubbling media queries oh my!). But that developers must concern themselves with the cascade for every single definition with no affordable method of ignoring it is madness. The only truly effective recourse is a non-trivial approach like BEM, religiously applied. Frankly, the quality of native mobile apps has pushed web development aspirations to a level that we are absolutely dependent on style guides and methodologies like BEM, SMACSS, and the lot. Part of me misses the good old days of simple 'semantic' CSS, and maybe it's just the writing-too-late-at-night talking, but the better part of me is really excited about the opportunity for true IDEs paired with preprocessor-empowered, standardized coding methodologies.