CSS roadmap proposal

[Dirk Lemmermann]

No bikeshedding attempt here, just some high level feedback regarding 4 / 5 „new theme": I have recently migrated our entire CRM application to AtlantaFX [1] which is based on GitHub Primer. Primer is not just a theme, it is a complete design system [3]. I think that any new design should be based on such a design system, as it defines semantics, e.g. „semantic colors“. By doing this it becomes very easy to customize a theme. We now get dark themes „for free“. A design system also gives you instructions on how you should design certain aspects of your application. As this might go too far for an out of the box theme I think there are still some valuable lessons to be learned from this approach. I can definitely say that the overall styling of our application has become much more consistent than before and much more simple. Using AtlantaFX has brought me closer to the world of design systems and has taught me many valuable lessons. I would strongly suggest to study its concepts / ideas before diving into a new theme.

[1] https://github.com/mkpaz/atlantafx
[2] https://primer.style/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_system#:~:text=A%20design%20system%20is%20a,consistency%20and%20efficiency%20across%20projects.



> Am 29.05.2025 um 20:31 schrieb Michael Strauß <michaelstrau2 at gmail.com>:
> 
> Here is how I think we should be evolving JavaFX CSS over the next
> period of time:
> 
> 1. Media queries
> Gist: https://gist.github.com/mstr2/cbb93bff03e073ec0c32aac317b22de7
> PR: https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/1655
> 
> This feature is already out for review.
> 
> 2. System colors
> Gist: https://gist.github.com/mstr2/afac42ab9587c1040a6cf7b091cee99f
> 
> System colors allow stylesheet authors to use colors that are defined
> by the scene or the platform. Most notably, this includes the accent
> color. We will also add new media queries to help stylesheet authors
> deal with contrast modes.
> 
> 3. With media queries and system colors in place, we can remove the
> built-in high contrast stylesheets that come with Caspian and Modena.
> Instead of hard-coding these special cases (and not even in a good
> way), we can now use standard APIs to achieve a better result. This
> will remove a big chunk of special-casing from the codebase and bring
> us closer to an equal playing field of built-in vs. third-party
> themes.
> 
> 4. Dark Modena / Modena 2025?
> 
> 5. Bold new theme?
> 
> 
> What do you think? Please focus comments on step 1-3, and not on
> bikeshedding a new theme.

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