How We Built EQCSS & Why You Should Try Building Your Own Polyfills Too

This article explores Element Query CSS (EQCSS), a CSS extension enabling responsive design based on element conditions rather than viewport conditions. The author details their journey creating EQCSS, highlighting its benefits and challenges.

Key Advantages of EQCSS:

• Enhanced Responsiveness: Offers finer control over styling based on individual element properties (width, height, text length, child count).
• Reusability: Facilitates component reuse across different layouts by basing breakpoints on element dimensions.
• Standardized Solution: Provides a consistent approach to solving common responsive design problems.
• Polyfill Functionality: Allows for tailored functionality on older browsers lacking native support.

The EQCSS Origin Story:

Born from the frustration of repetitive styling in responsive web apps, EQCSS emerged as a solution to dynamically adjust styles based on element characteristics. Collaboration with Maxime, a skilled coder, led to the creation of a JavaScript plugin that extended CSS capabilities.

Development Hurdles:

The development process wasn't without its challenges:

• Syntax Design: Balancing expressiveness and simplicity within the CSS framework.
• Plugin Development: Maintaining a small, efficient, and easily extensible plugin.
• Cross-Browser Compatibility: Ensuring consistent performance across diverse browsers, including legacy versions like IE8. This involved addressing performance issues in newer Firefox versions by implementing a debounce mechanism.
• Module Integration: Adapting the plugin for use with module loaders like Webpack and Browserify.
• Documentation and Communication: Creating clear explanations of the new concepts and syntax.

Why Build Your Own Polyfill?

The author emphasizes the value of building custom polyfills for several reasons:

• Tailored Solutions: Addressing specific needs and ensuring compatibility across all target browsers.
• Community Benefit: Sharing solutions benefits the wider development community.
• Innovation Catalyst: Serves as a springboard for exploring new ideas and creating additional plugins.

The Only Regret:

The author's only regret is not having the idea for EQCSS sooner, recognizing the potential for its application even in older browsers like IE8.

Future Outlook:

The author encourages developers to tackle their own challenges by creating solutions and sharing them with the community. The experience of building EQCSS has fostered a renewed enthusiasm for innovation and problem-solving in web development.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

The FAQs section provides concise answers to common questions about EQCSS, polyfills, and their implementation, covering topics such as functionality, differences from traditional CSS, benefits, challenges, and troubleshooting.

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