Trend: Seldom Used CSS Properties

For a wacky experiment I picked three “random” CSS properties I had never heard of and tried to guess what they were. Why? Mainly because I’m a dork, but perhaps “why not?” is a better question. I later found out that these properties aren’t random at all and could be extremely useful additions to a website if utilized correctly. My guesses are really bad (shocking, I know) but it just goes to show you, regardless of what you think you know about web design or life in general (I pretend to know a lot) there is always room for improvement.

Azimuth

My guess: This sounds like a cheap brand of Scotch to me or some kind of twisted evil Sorcerer in all those vampire movies/tv shows that are really popular right now. In fact, I’m sippin’ a tall glass of Azimuth as I type this, it’s quite refreshing and surprisingly light on the pocketbook. Ahhh!

Answer: Strike One. According to the W3C schools, azimuth is an aural reference that “sets where the sound should come from” with potential values such as “far-left, center, rightwards, etc”

Pitch

My guess: Perhaps someone on the W3C board was making an online baseball game (when people were crazy for steroid fueled homeruns – Go Sammy Sosa!) and tricked everyone else with a vote into thinking we really needed this? This baseball game would be the only documented case of anyone ever using the pitch property ever, it continues today as a testament to the trickery and tomfoolery that went on as the rest of the members swore to never let this happen again.

Answer: Strike Two. Pitch is another aural reference that the W3C schools defines as “specifying the speaking voice” with potential values such as “x-low, normal, and x-high, etc.”

Elevation

My guess: This makes me think of Matt Chips in QA here at NetQoS. He loves this place called “Elevation Burger”, I personally have never been, but industry recognized JavaScript master Jason Graves (aka The GodLikeMouse) thinks it totally sucks and it tastes like “cafeteria food” which makes me laugh. I laugh mainly out of nervousness on this one, you see the problem here is Matt resembles the hulk, he’s enormous and no one will tell him “Elevation Burger” isn’t good because he would probably tear their arms off and beat them to death after bench pressing several small cars. Somehow this CSS property is related to Matt Chips. I’m sure of it.

Answer: Strike Three. Yet again an aural reference, according to the W3C, elevation “sets where the sound should come from” with potential values such as “below, level, lower, etc.”

Conclusion…

You might think these are brand new CSS references for the much hyped up CSS3 or part of the HTML5 wizardry, but the sad fact is these are currently available for use in CSS2 but are rarely used. Specifically these could be used “by blind people, to help users learning to read, to help users who have reading problems, for home entertainment, in the car, and by print-impaired communities.” All of these sound like great ideas to me, is anyone using these properties? Let’s hear it.

To learn more about aural style sheets visit the W3C Schools CSS reference here.