Should DevTools Teach the CSS Cascade?
Stefan Judis argues that browser DevTools should display specificity values for each selector in the (X, X, X, X) format. He posted this idea two days before I wrote about using that exact notation when discussing specificity.
"I think that the above additions could help to educate developers about CSS tremendously. The only downside I can think of is that additional information might overwhelm developers, but I would take that risk in favor of more people learning CSS properly."
I would support the proposal. The current crossed-out styling for "losing" selectors attempts to teach the cascade, but it doesn't actually explain why a selector lost. I am less concerned about information overload — with thoughtful design, the extra data could be integrated cleanly. DevTools is already an information-dense environment where developers expect to inspect details.
