{
  "id": 10626187,
  "title": "Fresh CSS constructs move web design beyond ticky-tacky little boxes",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/fresh-css-constructs-move-web-design-beyond-ticky-tacky-little-boxes",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-29T06:32:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/devops/2026/09/29/fresh-css-constructs-move-web-design-beyond-ticky-tacky-little-boxes/5299614"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The tyranny of box design on the World Wide Web has ended, ushering in a new era of fluid content layout for web designers and AI agents. Published in 1996, the World Wide Web Consortium's initial standard for web page layout restricted sites to grid-defined layouts, as graphics drivers and browser rendering engines were still primitive. However, with modern advancements in technology, web developers can now design web pages beyond square boundaries.\n\nA series of new CSS features, including the shape() function, border-shape, and corner-shape properties, offer designers a broader palette for creating content. These constructs enable web developers to lay out content in a more fluid manner by using responsive CSS syntax and geometric coordinates. Previously, only horizontal or vertical lines or borders could be drawn on a web page with HTML and CSS.\n\nThe shape() function, a set of geometric coordinates for desired shapes or trajectories, is built on responsive CSS syntax and can be combined with the clip-path property. This has been used to create various elements such as ticket stubs and chat bubbles. The border-shape property applies CSS-native coordinates defined in shape() to web page borders, allowing for the placement of borders within borders to create cut-outs and animations.\n\nWith these new CSS constructs, web developers can now carve up a webpage in any way desired and add borders that change shape as the mouse moves over them or fill them with images or other designs. Corner-shape offers pre-defined fancy border patterns, including boxes with rounded edges, beveled edges, notches, scoops, and even a \"squircle.\" While the experimental status of border-shape and corner-shape may cause some caution, all major browsers now support shape(). It's up to developers to harness these new tools and build a more fluid web.",
  "summary": "Let us bury the web's 30-year layout reliance on rectangles",
  "key_points": [
    "New CSS features like shape(), border-shape, and corner-shape enable fluid web design.",
    "Shape() function uses geometric coordinates for custom shapes and animations.",
    "Major browsers now support shape(), allowing developers to innovate web layouts."
  ],
  "editors_take": "New CSS features enable web designers to move beyond rigid grid layouts, creating more fluid and dynamic content layouts that can be tailored to various shapes and user interactions.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Science",
        "title": "Fresh CSS constructs move web design beyond ticky-tacky little boxes",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/fresh-css-constructs-move-web-design-beyond-ticky-tacky-little-boxes-10630575",
        "published": "2026-09-29T06:32:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}