The 2024 platform pulse: What the surveys surfaced

The State of CSS 2024 and State of HTML 2024 results are out, and together they paint an unusually positive picture of the web platform while still flagging the areas where developers feel the most friction. Here’s a look at the standout signals and where they point.

A generally upbeat developer base

Asked whether the web platform is heading in the right direction overall, 58% of State of HTML respondents agreed, and 18% of that group said they "strongly agree." Optimism also shows up in which CSS features developers are celebrating: :has() was ranked the best new feature by 36% of survey-takers, while @container and CSS nesting tied for second place at 17% each.

Adoption vs. sentiment gaps

The CSS usage data holds some counterintuitive findings. Despite the well-documented frustrations with the cascade, only 18.9% of respondents report using cascade layers. It’s possible that tooling like Tailwind is lowering the frequency with which developers encounter cascade-specific conflicts. In the HTML survey, landmark elements like <main> and <nav> lead as the most-used features, with lazy loading and responsive image techniques also seeing widespread adoption.

Where browser support still bites

Interoperability issues remain a core pain point. When asked directly, the top 10 problematic features were ranked as follows:

  • Popover API
  • Anchor positioning
  • Container queries
  • :has()
  • CSS nesting
  • View Transition API
  • Subgrid
  • Grid
  • <dialog>
  • Progressive Web Apps

The support scores behind these are significant: anchor positioning scored 11% in both surveys, while the View Transition API racked up 9% in State of CSS and 8% in State of HTML. However, those numbers don't always map cleanly to actual browser gaps. Container queries, :has(), CSS nesting, and subgrid are all Baseline Newly available; the Popover API is close to qualifying but has a lingering light-dismiss issue on iOS. <dialog> element and CSS grid, meanwhile, are both Widely available now. The grid responses in particular often point to learning-curve challenges rather than real interoperability failures. For teams trying to separate genuine browser gaps from general pain, tools like Baseline on webstatus.dev make that diagnostic step easier than in the past.

What developers still feel is missing

The surveys also pinpoint how developers want the platform to evolve. In CSS, the most frequent asks were for mixins, conditional logic, and masonry layout. What’s notable are the implicit gaps: developers again requested a parent selector and CSS nesting, even though both capabilities are already available (:has() and nesting are Baseline Newly available).

On the HTML side, developers were asked which three elements they would add if they could. Data tables topped the requests at 51%, with tabs and toggle elements also drawing considerable support.

The features developers want to deepen

Survey-takers could save items to a reading list to signal interest in learning more later. Combining data from both surveys, the top ten items by percentage of takers who bookmarked them are:

  • CSS hanging-punctuation
  • CSS offset-path
  • @scope
  • Anchor positioning
  • Customizable select
  • view-timeline
  • scroll-timeline
  • focusgroup attribute
  • Discrete properties animation
  • image()

The full reading lists are available in the CSS results and the HTML results.

Neither survey is the sole input for roadmap planning, but they offer a direct channel for developer feedback on what's frustrating, what's missing, and what most deserves attention next. For anyone who hasn't chimed in yet, The State of JS 2024 is still open for responses.