I think the reason for this kind of slow evolution is lack of generic properties (like --surprise-- internet explorer's filters ) which lets developers push the boundaries on their own with in a reasonable limit. For example, support for border-radius, linear gradient, box shadow, text shadow etc all deal with rendering of elements at various levels. If there is a generic property which lets us control rendering and positioning of elements to a limited extent, the current evolution and standardization processes will be much less of a problem (I'm not saying internet explorer's filters are the way to go. But you have to give them credit for putting such a generic property in developer's hands).