Custom CSS gets an upgrade
Heads up, Custom Design users! The Custom CSS feature on WordPress.com now supports all of the new features of CSS3. This means that you can use gradients, animation, multiple backgrounds, @media queries, and many more new features in your custom CSS.
If you want to make your images pop and tilt, give your post titles a polished letterpress embossed look, or add high-dpi graphics for retina displays—you can do that. If you’ve just got to have a Machu Picchu color palette complete with linear gradients to show off your lovely llama, you can do that too. CSS3 opens the doors to all the latest cutting edge things going on in the web design world today. If you can dream it, you can do it.TM
The CSS editor itself has been upgraded too! Now that we’re using Ace, it’s just like having a desktop code editor in the browser: syntax coloring, auto-indentation, and immediate feedback on the validity of the CSS you’re writing are just a few of its features.
If you don’t have the Custom Design upgrade and you want to use these awesome new features, including fabulous Custom Fonts which are included with the upgrade, you can add it to your blog from the Store link in your dashboard.
Apr 5th at 8:33 pm
Oh wow, that is awesome. Makes me want to pick my CSS book back up and try a crack at it.
Apr 5th at 8:43 pm
Do it!
Apr 5th at 8:41 pm
So, I don’t really understand. I had assumed that buying custom design would have given me access to the stylesheet. Since CSS is just text and support is ultimately down to a user’s browser, what was to stop me using transforms, gradients and all that jazz before today?
Did WP.com parse and filter CSS?
Does it still? And if so, what restrictions still exist?
Apr 5th at 8:50 pm
We do parse custom CSS in order to filter out and prevent possible security holes, and this announcement reflects that we’ve updated our parser to allow the majority of the CSS3 features to pass through the security filtering step. @import rules and javascript: URLs are a few of the things that you still can’t do.
Apr 5th at 9:11 pm
That makes sense. Thanks for the answer Christopher.
Apr 5th at 8:42 pm
I really want to get CSS but I think I’m a bit overwhelmed by it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to customize my site the way I want, or if I’ll end up really screwing it up. :-/
Apr 5th at 8:46 pm
Don’t be overwhelmed! There is tons of support out there including a CSS Basics tutorial, beginner guides, and a Custom CSS forum for WordPress.com Custom Design customers.
Plus, you can try any CSS using the Preview button on your Appearance → Custom Design → CSS page before you buy or save changes.
Apr 6th at 1:04 am
Ok, good to know! Thanks! I just might do it!
Apr 6th at 12:40 am
Go ahead and give it a try, starting with a tutorial as Sheri suggests. All those professionally done sites you see were all done by someone who started where you are now.
I wouldn’t call myself a professional web designer by any stretch, but I’ve done my share of learning CSS. One trick I’ve discovered is that if you can’t make your CSS work, start over and try to use less, simpler CSS than you did before.
Don’t be afraid to try. Think of it as a puzzle. Good luck!
Apr 7th at 1:08 am
Very true. I have to start somewhere! Thanks! I’m definitely going to try it soon!
Apr 5th at 10:16 pm
Sounds fabulous. Something new to play with! Thanks WordPress~
Apr 5th at 10:23 pm
Are there plans to soon update the WordPress.com Custom CSS plugin with these new improvements, for WordPress.org installs?
Apr 5th at 10:34 pm
Yes, these improvements will be merged into the Custom CSS plugin in the near future.
Apr 5th at 10:37 pm
I am just curious….does having this, on our blogs, give our posts the capacity to have music on them? Thanks, your considerations, are greatly appreciated. Elena
Apr 5th at 11:59 pm
Adding audio is separate from the Custom Design upgrade. See http://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/ for details.
Apr 6th at 12:02 am
Thank you *very much*! That’ll save me loads of time. Inasmuch as I already have a domain name and I already have a host for other purposes, I’d been considering offloading my wordpress.com blog to my own website with wordpress.org. Now, mebbe I’ll hesitate. We’ll see how it goes.
Apr 6th at 12:10 am
Does this mean you’re not stripping CSS comments any more? Commenting one’s code is generally good practice and I never entirely understood why the parser didn’t agree.
Apr 13th at 5:34 pm
Comments are still stripped out, and we realize that that’s not always ideal; it’s on our list of things to fix, but it’s not a priority right now.
Apr 6th at 12:44 am
Thank you! Great news.
Apr 6th at 5:26 am
Wish I knew how to do some web designing so I could use this but thanks for the upgrade!
Apr 6th at 6:31 am
Reblogged this on Konstantin on WordPress.com and commented:
With just a little bit of CSS knowledge, you can make your WordPress.com really stand out, even without a premium theme!
Apr 6th at 6:58 am
Oh now I’m going to HAVE to get the CSS Upgrade. It’s looking awesome.
sev x
Apr 6th at 7:48 am
I have a question – I have one WordPress Account, but five blogs associated with it, all to the same email address. If I get Custom, can I use it on all five blogs, or do I have to buy the Custom package for each blog?
Apr 6th at 9:15 pm
The Custom Design upgrade must be added once for each blog.
Apr 7th at 7:19 am
Thank you – and sorry for the question, I read the notice about no questions after I hit post.
Apr 7th at 9:46 pm
No problem.
Apr 6th at 11:28 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you! As a CSS-loving Custom Design user, this makes me very happy indeed.
And the upgrade to the CSS editor is great! No more searching high and low for that elusive semicolon I missed and that’s messing up my code. 
WordPress rocks my socks!
Apr 6th at 2:23 pm
This is such great news, I learn CSS by copying bits and pieces over various sites on the web… won’t call it stealing but anyway it helps me understand the code and eventually learn to do the coding myself and this is definitely a great upgrade.
Apr 6th at 3:32 pm
absolutely love the css editor… fantastic update to the custom css page!
Apr 6th at 8:03 pm
Hello,
If I purchase CSS and use it for an year to develop my pages and later if I dont renew, I understand that I will not be able to develop new pages with CSS. But will the old pages still be the way they were developed with CSS or will they lose those features?
Kishore
Apr 6th at 9:16 pm
The CSS you add will still be saved in your dashboard if you let the Custom Design upgrade expire, but the updates will not be visible on your blog unless the upgrade is renewed.
Apr 7th at 6:00 pm
thanks sheri…I am nt sure I got ur reply completely…sorry for the trouble..
will the existing pages continue to look the same even after CSS upgrade gets expired?
Apr 7th at 9:50 pm
No. The CSS will be saved, but the pages won’t show the custom CSS unless the upgrade is renewed.
Apr 6th at 8:21 pm
Like the layout its really fly
Apr 12th at 6:00 pm
What is the best and quickest way to start learning CSS and ACE?