JavaScript has thrived on its ability to mutate itself and provide the newest capabilities in older browsers. Instead of waiting for new features to ship, they can be polyfilled and deployed before native browser support lands. CSS, on the other hand, is notorious for requiring years of delay before browser support is common enough to use a new feature. To make it worse, many features of CSS simply can't be polyfilled by JavaScript, meaning the newest CSS specs sit unused by most people for years until it is deemed safe to use.

The Houdini task force aims to change that, bringing the same prototyping/polyfilling capabilities to CSS. Using these new APIs, developers will be able to hook into parts of the browser rendering engine that have never been exposed to web authors, meaning fresh CSS features can be polyfilled more easily, and new ones can be dreamed up without having to compile the browser yourself.

Houdini is still in development and cannot yet be used. The session will cover the new APIs being created, identify some examples where Houdini is helpful, and offer suggestions for technologies that you can start learning now so you're prepared when the magic show begins.

Slides: https://rupl.github.io/houdini/