padding:initial vs. padding:0

[Rain_Lover]

Does

padding:initial

have any advantage over

padding:0

? Example:

<style>
 textarea {
 padding: 0;
 }
</style>
<textarea>Hello, world!</textarea>

[lucy24]

padding:initial

I would worry about backward compatibility, since I can't even find this form in the CSS docs :( What browsers support it?

padding: 0
seems safer, and is unambiguous. I include it in my boilerplate for some elements.

[rainborick]

Yup, no support from IE for 'initial'.

[Rain_Lover]

I can't even find this form in the CSS docs :( What browsers support it?

This [developer.mozilla.org] can help.

[Fotiman]

Note, it appears that "initial" is not supported at all in IE, so that would be one reason not to use it.
Also, comparing padding:initial to padding:0 is not always accurate. Some elements my have some default padding (like ul and ol, etc.).

[lucy24]

Can't help noting that the first thing they say is

On inherited properties, the initial value may be surprising and you should consider using the inherit or unset keywords instead.

The word "surprising" is good. I would treat it as equivalent to Apache "unexpected" or "unintended", which tends to mean "We cannot guarantee that the world as you know it will NOT end."

[Rain_Lover]

Some elements my have some default padding (like ul and ol, etc.).

The "initial value" and "browser default value" are not the same: the initial value is defined by spec, which is separate from what value the browser assigns to certain properties on certain elements as part of its default stylesheet. In my example, the browser default value is

0px

in Firefox and

2px

in Chrome, while the initial value is

0px

according to the spec [w3.org].

[Fotiman]

That just seems to add confusion.