Should we NEVER use non-logical properties?
August 4, 2025
CSS has “logical properties” which have the unique ability to follow the flow of language. You might be working on an website in English, which is left-to-right and top-to-bottom, but other languages might flip either or both of those. In English, we know what margin-right does, but can quickly become the wrong choice if the direction of a web page is flipped, perhaps during translation.
Source: Should we NEVER use non-logical properties? – Frontend Masters Blog
A detailed look at CSS’s logical properties, why they can be valuable even if all your content is in one language (hint: it’s not since Google Translate and other in place translation services exist and are likely to get ever more prevalent) or give us nicer shorthands (margin-inline: auto versus margin: 0 auto is almost worth the price of admission alone).
But there are also some gotchas. All of which Chris Coyier (new to Confab with his great CSS Day talk) looks into here.
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