The CSS ecosystem continues to evolve at a remarkable pace, and the annual State of CSS survey serves as a vital pulse-check for the developer community. The 2025 edition has arrived, bringing with it a comprehensive look at the features, tools, and techniques that are shaping modern web development.
Whether you're building static sites with Next.js or crafting dynamic web applications, understanding these trends helps you make informed decisions about which CSS capabilities to adopt and when. The survey collected over 5,500 responses from developers worldwide, running from June 1 to July 15, 2025. This participation provides invaluable data about what developers are actually using, what they're struggling with, and what they want to see in the future of CSS.
Our web development services team closely follows these trends to deliver cutting-edge solutions that leverage the latest CSS capabilities for optimal performance and maintainability.
Understanding the State of CSS Survey
The State of CSS survey, organized by Devographics, has become an essential resource for web developers, framework maintainers, and browser vendors alike. Unlike other surveys that might focus on broad developer demographics or tool preferences, this survey drills deep into the specifics of CSS usage--the properties developers know, the ones they're excited about, and the ones that continue to cause frustration.
The survey structure typically covers several key areas: overall CSS satisfaction and pain points, usage of specific CSS properties and values, awareness and adoption of newer features, tooling preferences, and demographic information about respondents. Each section provides different insights into how CSS is being used in the real world versus how it might be intended to be used by specification authors.
Why participation matters: The CSS Working Group explicitly uses the pain point sections to understand where developers struggle most. Features that consistently rank as difficult to use or missing capabilities bubble up to the top of the standardization priority list.
New CSS Features in 2025
The 2025 survey reflects a remarkable expansion of CSS capabilities, with questions covering features that represent fundamental shifts in how developers can approach styling and layout.
calc-size() Function
Calculates values based on intrinsic sizing functions like min-content, max-content, or fit-content. Enables dynamic, context-aware sizing without JavaScript.
Scroll-Driven Animations
Control animations directly by scroll position. Enables progress indicators, fade-in effects, and complex sequencing tied to scroll behavior.
Container Scroll-State Queries
Style elements based on scroll position within containers. Perfect for sticky headers within scrollable areas and scroll-linked effects.
text-box-edge & text-box-trim
Precise control over text bounding boxes. Addresses challenges with text alignment and vertical spacing across different fonts.
field-sizing Property
Form elements automatically size to their content. Eliminates the need for JavaScript auto-expand workarounds on textareas.
@function Rule
Define reusable calculations directly in stylesheets. Enables complex calculations to be defined once and referenced multiple times.
Additional Notable Features
The survey also covers several other important additions to CSS:
- CSS Carousels - Native properties for building image galleries and content sliders with built-in snapping and pagination
- ::target-text - Style text that becomes highlighted when navigating to in-page anchors
- sibling-count() and sibling-index() - Apply styles based on element position among siblings
- if() Function - Conditional logic directly in CSS values for responsive values without media queries
- display: contents - Pass-through display value for flexible layout structures
Performance Implications of Modern CSS
Modern CSS features aren't just about capability--they often represent opportunities for better performance.
Container queries contribute to performance through their scoped nature. When styles are scoped to containers rather than viewport dimensions, style recalculations are limited to the affected components rather than requiring a full stylesheet recalculation.
For teams working with Next.js, CSS features that integrate well with the framework's approach to styling--including CSS Modules and global CSS--tend to perform better and integrate more cleanly with the framework's optimization pipelines. Our web development services leverage these modern CSS capabilities to build fast, maintainable websites that score well on Core Web Vitals and deliver exceptional user experiences.
Developer Pain Points and Frustrations
The State of CSS survey consistently reveals areas where developers struggle:
| Pain Point | Description |
|---|---|
| Center Alignment | Despite modern layout tools, centering content both horizontally and vertically still requires understanding context-specific solutions |
| Scroll Behavior | Sticky positioning, scroll-linked animations, and complex scroll-driven interfaces remain challenging |
| Responsive Images | Managing aspect ratios across different media types requires understanding multiple properties |
| Text Typography | Font-relative units, fluid typography, and cross-browser text rendering need careful attention |
| Browser Compatibility | Not all features have universal support, requiring fallbacks and feature detection |
These pain points directly inform the future direction of CSS development and standardization priorities.
Adopting New CSS Features in Your Workflow
For developers working with modern frameworks like Next.js, a measured approach to adopting new features ensures sites remain performant and accessible.
Key Considerations
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Browser Support: For internal tools or controlled environments, cutting-edge features may be appropriate immediately. For public-facing websites, wait for broader support (typically 90-95% usage).
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Progressive Enhancement: Use @supports rule to provide fallbacks for older browsers when adopting new features.
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Performance Testing: Always test new CSS features with tools like Lighthouse and WebPageTest to identify any rendering bottlenecks.
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Team Education: Ensure team members understand new concepts--container queries require thinking in component context, scroll-driven animations require understanding scroll containers.
Our web development team stays current with these developments to deliver cutting-edge solutions for our clients, combining modern CSS with robust SEO practices to create websites that perform well in search rankings while providing excellent user experiences.
1/* Base styles for all browsers */2.container {3 display: flex;4 flex-wrap: wrap;5}6 7/* Enhanced styles when container queries are supported */8@supports (container-type: inline-size) {9 .container {10 display: grid;11 grid-template-columns: 1fr;12 }13 14 @container (min-width: 640px) {15 .container {16 grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);17 }18 }19 20 @container (min-width: 1024px) {21 .container {22 grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);23 }24 }25}The Future of CSS
The State of CSS survey provides signals about where the language is heading:
- Increased Expressiveness: CSS is becoming more capable of handling logic that previously required JavaScript
- Native Solutions: Scroll-driven animations and container queries reduce JavaScript dependencies
- Performance Optimization: Modern CSS features are designed to be optimized by browser rendering engines
- Developer Experience: Continued focus on reducing pain points and improving ergonomics
For developers working with Next.js and modern web technologies, staying current with these developments enables better performance, more maintainable codebases, and improved user experiences. The State of CSS 2025 survey captures this momentum and provides a roadmap for where CSS is heading next.