The First Gradient Syntax

-webkit-gradient with from(), to() and color-stop(), lifted straight out of canvas.

In 2026: Partly, remarkably: the 2008 syntax was replaced by linear-gradient before it ever left the prefix, yet -webkit-gradient still paints in every current browser, Firefox included, because so many old pages used it that the web compatibility standard now requires it. The top bar below is the 2008 syntax running today.

Where it came from: Introducing CSS Gradients, the WebKit blog, April 2008, borrowing the canvas API's stop functions. Superseded by the syntax standardised in CSS Images 3; kept alive by the WHATWG Compatibility standard.
WebKit blog, 2008 ↗Compat standard ↗

<style>
.g2008 { height: 44px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top,
         from(#ff0080), color-stop(0.5, #8000ff), to(#0080ff)); }
.g2026 { height: 44px; background: linear-gradient(to right, #ff0080, #8000ff, #0080ff); }
</style>

<p style="font:13px Verdana">2008, the prefixed original:</p>
<div class="g2008"></div>
<p style="font:13px Verdana">The standard that replaced it:</p>
<div class="g2026"></div>
<p style="font:13px Verdana">If the first bar is painted, your 2026 browser is
honouring the 2008 syntax, which the compatibility standard obliges it to.</p>