Wrong statement: "A value which is not specified is set to its initial value."

[dbplunkett]

MDN URL

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Cascade/Shorthand_properties

What specific section or headline is this issue about?

#omitting_properties

What information was incorrect, unhelpful, or incomplete?

It says, "A value which is not specified is set to its initial value." However, there is at least one counter-example: The one-value syntax for flex that omits flex-basis (e.g. flex: 1;) sets flex-basis to 0, but the initial value for flex-basis is auto.

What did you expect to see?

It should say something like "A value which is not specified is set to a default value, which may or may not be the property's initial value."

Do you have any supporting links, references, or citations?

No response

Do you have anything more you want to share?

No response

MDN metadata

Page report details

• Folder: en-us/web/css/guides/cascade/shorthand_properties
• MDN URL: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Cascade/Shorthand_properties
• GitHub URL: https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/web/css/guides/cascade/shorthand_properties/index.md
• Last commit: ca5d9f9
• Document last modified: 2025-11-20T07:05:04.000Z

[MUSKANNISHAD]

Hi, I’d like to work on this and propose a small documentation fix aligning the wording with the actual shorthand behavior. I’ll open a PR shortly.

[chrisdavidmills]

Fixed by #42533.