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State of CSS 2026

CSS Usage

How you use CSS.

Testing Environments

Testing environments don't show much change compared to last year, with accessibility testing still not as common as it should be.
Which form factors or environments do you test on?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Desktop
3,774
02
Smartphone
2,510
03
Tablet
1,570
04
Desktop with keyboard only
1,300
05
Testing Tools (Axe, Lighthouse, etc.)
1,054
06
Feature phone
1,030
07
Screen reader
799
08
Print
477
09
PDF Export
306
10
Altered Vision Simulator (color blindness, etc.)
262
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
3,781
77%
10
26%
Percentage of survey respondents who do not generate any CSS code using AI whatsoever.

CSS AI Code Generation

What's fascinating about this chart is that it looks completely different from a similar question asked in the State of AI or State of JS surveys. Comments on this question point to the fact that AI isn't great at CSS just yet. Time will tell if this is just a temporary limitation, or if we will one day have AI so powerful it's even able to fully grasp how CSS grid layouts work.

What proportion of the CSS code you produce is AI-generated?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
0% AI
980
2
|
941
3
|
562
4
|
206
5
50%
322
6
|
157
7
|
312
8
|
188
9
100% AI
64
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
3,732
76%
28%
13%
10
💡
Sharing this survey on Twitter, Facebook, or by email is scientifically proven to improve your coding performance by up to 15%.

Browser Incompatibilities

Anchor Positioning and the View Transition API are still the features respondents are refraining from using the most due to browser issues.

It's also interesting to note that Container size queries and Grid still show up in this chart, despite both having the Widely Available Baseline status.

Are there any existing CSS features that you have difficulties using (or avoid altogether) because of lack of support, or differences between browsers?
Freeform
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
02
+1
03
04
Safari issues
+1
05
-3
06
07
08
+1
09
+2
10
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
632
13%
20
10

Missing Features

While we're still waiting for Mixins to make their way to CSS, browser vendors did address our pleas for Masonry Layout, last year's number two most-requested feature, in the form of the new display: grid-lanes syntax.
What features do you feel are currently missing from CSS altogether?
Freeform
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
Mixins
2
3
4
5
Media Query Variables
+5
6
Form Elements Styling
+2
7
Masonry Layout
-5
8
Other Answers
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
436
9%
10

Favorite New Feature

:has() may still be as awesome as ever, but with many developers having already used it for over a year, it has lost its “best new feature” crown to Anchor Positioning, which gained 4 ranks to take the top spot.
What are your favorite new CSS features that you started using this year?
Freeform
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
+4
02
-1
03
-1
04
-1
05
-1
06
+4
07
+2
08
-1
09
-3
10
+3
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
913
19%
20
10

Pace of Change

If you feel behind because you haven't used every single new CSS feature that's come out this year, don't. As this chart shows, most respondents are in in the middle of their feature adoption curves, having only learned about and tried out some of the features included in the survey.

How well are you generally able to keep up with new CSS features, such as those mentioned in this survey?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
I haven't learned about or tried out most features
533
2
I've learned about some of the features; but haven't tried them out
936
3
I've learned about and tried out some of the features
1,144
4
I've learned about most of the features and tried out some of them
798
5
I've learned about and tried out most of the features
290
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% of question respondents
3,701
76%
2.8
3
10

Web Technologies Happiness

Respondents were relatively happy with the state of web technologies in general, maintaining a 3.8 average on a 5-point scale.
How happy are you with the general state of web technologies?
1
2
3
4
5
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
1
2
3
4
5
Average
3,737
76%
3.8
4
10

State of CSS

On the other hand, happiness with CSS specifically shows a clear upwards trend in recent years, which happens to align nicely with the language's own rapid pace of improvement.
How happy are you with the general state of CSS?
1
2
3
4
5
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
1
2
3
4
5
Average
3,747
76%
4
4
10

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