Is it a good idea to start using css3 in your designs. I've been reading up on it and it makes a lot of things a lot easier (i.e creating rounded edges) I'm not sure how many browsers are already using elements from css3 though. I saw this article which was interesting

http://www.css3.info/preview/colored-border/

but it only look right for Firefox users, eliminating a lot of people from seeing the correct result.

As far as I know IE hasn't incorporated much if anything from css3 so you probably don't want to use it yet for sites that have IE users. I'm with you in liking what's coming, but for now you probably need to use css3 as progressive enhancement than rely on it for all browsers.

As a general rule, if it will degrade gracefully in browsers that don't support a rule, it is okay to use that rule. For example, there are -moz and -webkit versions of CSS3 rounded corners:

.rounded {
   -moz-border-radius: 10px;
   -webkit-border-radius: 10px;
}

Is fine, as long as it looks tolerable without rounded corners, because there is no IE equivalent. If it is absolutely essential to the design, images should be used.

Opacity may be used right now, though it must be accompanied with its equivalent Microsoft filter:

.semi-transparent {
   opacity: .5;
   filter: alpha(opacity=50);
}

The most widely implemented CSS3 declaration that I can think of, though it is rarely used, is the first-letter psuedoselector:

p.intro:first-letter {
   font-size: 2em;/*large first letter*/
}

This is even supported by IE6.

Thanks for the comments. Does anyone know when popular browsers will incorporate most of css3?

I do use opacity right now for some of my images, but naver heard of the first-letter psuedoselector.

Well, I guess I'll have to try some of it out

Originally Posted by konetch

Thanks for the comments. Does anyone know when popular browsers will incorporate most of css3?

The CSS3 specs aren't even complete, so I imagine it will be some time before it is widely used, since it isn't even standardized. I suspect it will be more than 5 years before it will have even a medium-sized impact. HTML5 with CSS3 will be very interesting.

Originally Posted by konetch

Thanks for the comments. Does anyone know when popular browsers will incorporate most of css3?

Don't hold your breath.

Thw W3C is getting a bit of flak over how slowly the
process is going.