[svieira]

> Why is it using an NIH format instead of using XML or INI or something?

The original suggestion was LISP-like or X.11 configuration file syntax (https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS20/history.html) - XML was still too new (but look at https://www.w3.org/wiki/Xsl-fo if you want to see what the W3C came up with for "styling, but in XML format for XML documents"). My guess is that the declarative shape imitates SGML with a C syntax to make it easier to understand.

> It's too global. This is good for consistent styling but bad for modularity.

Yeah, that was an explicit design choice - one that we're now asking for (and getting) more control over as the web continues to expand, but it's not like it wasn't considered, it was considered and rejected for MVP as it were.

> Pseudo-classes are ugly and weird and were a way-too-late NIH thing.

https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1/#pseudo-classes-and-pseudo-elemen... were in CSS 1 released as a specification in 1998. Ugly-and-weird-and-special-cased ... sure, but what would you replace them with?

[chuckadams]

There was always DSSSL, but I guess that was only accessible to people who spoke parseltongue ;p