What are -moz- and -webkit-?

What are -moz- and -webkit-?

CSS properties starting with -webkit-, -moz-, -ms- or -o- are called vendor prefixes.

Why do different browsers add different prefixes for the same effect?

A good explanation of vendor prefixes comes from Peter-Paul Koch of QuirksMode:

Originally, the point of vendor prefixes was to allow browser makers to start supporting experimental CSS declarations.

Let's say a W3C working group is discussing a grid declaration (which, incidentally, wouldn't be such a bad idea). Let's furthermore say that some people create a draft specification, but others disagree with some of the details. As we know, this process may take ages.

Let's furthermore say that Microsoft as an experiment decides to implement the proposed grid. At this point in time, Microsoft cannot be certain that the specification will not change. Therefore, instead of adding the grid to its CSS, it adds -ms-grid.

The vendor prefix kind of says "this is the Microsoft interpretation of an ongoing proposal." Thus, if the final definition of the grid is different, Microsoft can add a new CSS property grid without breaking pages that depend on -ms-grid.

UPDATE AS OF THE YEAR 2016

As this post 3 years old, it's important to mention that now most vendors do understand that these prefixes are just creating unnecessary duplicate code and that the situation where you need to specify three different CSS rules to get one effect working in all browser is an unwanted one.

As mentioned in this glossary about Mozilla's view on Vendor Prefix on May 3, 2016,

Browser vendors are now trying to get rid of vendor prefix for experimental features. They noticed that Web developers were using them on production Web sites, polluting the global space and making it more difficult for underdogs to perform well.

For example, just a few years ago, to set a rounded corner on a box you had to write:

-moz-border-radius: 10px 5px;
-webkit-border-top-left-radius: 10px;
-webkit-border-top-right-radius: 5px;
-webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 5px;
border-radius: 10px 5px;

But now that browsers have come to fully support this feature, you really only need the standardized version:

border-radius: 10px 5px;

Finding the right rules for all browsers

As still there's no standard for common CSS rules that work on all browsers, you can use tools like caniuse.com to check support of a rule across all major browsers.

You can also use pleeease.iamvdo.me/play/. Pleeease is a Node.js application that easily processes your CSS. It simplifies the use of preprocessors and combines them with the best postprocessors. It helps create clean stylesheets, support older browsers and offers better maintainability.

Input:

a {
  column-count: 3;
  column-gap: 10px;
  column-fill: auto;
}

Output:

a {
  -webkit-column-count: 3;
     -moz-column-count: 3;
          column-count: 3;
  -webkit-column-gap: 10px;
     -moz-column-gap: 10px;
          column-gap: 10px;
  -webkit-column-fill: auto;
     -moz-column-fill: auto;
          column-fill: auto;
}

These are the vendor-prefixed properties offered by the relevant rendering engines (-webkit for Chrome, Safari; -moz for Firefox, -o for Opera, -ms for Internet Explorer). Typically they're used to implement new, or proprietary CSS features, prior to final clarification/definition by the W3.

This allows properties to be set specific to each individual browser/rendering engine in order for inconsistencies between implementations to be safely accounted for. The prefixes will, over time, be removed (at least in theory) as the unprefixed, the final version, of the property is implemented in that browser.

To that end it's usually considered good practice to specify the vendor-prefixed version first and then the non-prefixed version, in order that the non-prefixed property will override the vendor-prefixed property-settings once it's implemented; for example:

.elementClass {
    -moz-border-radius: 2em;
    -ms-border-radius: 2em;
    -o-border-radius: 2em;
    -webkit-border-radius: 2em;
    border-radius: 2em;
}

Specifically, to address the CSS in your question, the lines you quote:

-webkit-column-count: 3;
-webkit-column-gap: 10px;
-webkit-column-fill: auto;
-moz-column-count: 3;
-moz-column-gap: 10px;
-moz-column-fill: auto;

Specify the column-count, column-gap and column-fill properties for Webkit browsers and Firefox.

References:

  • CSS Multi-column layout module.
  • 'In defence of Vendor Prefixes' (Meyerweb.com).
  • Vendor prefix lists (Meyerweb.com).

Tags:

Css

Webkit

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