That is to say, it's not possible to create any conceivable layout with CSS alone. It might be possible if the thing spits out Javascript as well.
Yes, but if someone managed to create a logical, concise Web publishing standard that was something other than a can of worms, it would be a proprietary system, most likely patented. Which means no one would voluntarily adopt it.
The advantage of a public, open-source, no-one-in-charge system like we have now is that it's collaborative, democratic, and free. That's also its disadvantage.
For a classic counterexample, look at Apple's products -- they create much more consistent and usable products than the rest of the marketplace. But as many have said, Apple is a walled garden. If an Apple product happens to do what you want with no changes, then fine, otherwise you're out of luck.
Freedom is messy. Democratic technology seems always to veer toward chaos.
The W3C isn't a town hall, it's more like the UN. At best they prevent the web from going back to the chaos of the mid-90s.
Like Guido Van Rossum in the Python world (with the title "Benevolent Dictator For Life"), who seems (so far) to manage his power well. But I think this is a rare exception to a well-known rule about arbitrary power.
It was called Flash. Or Java applets.
See history.
I get it that HTML is supposed to be for content, CSS for layout and JS for programmatic logic, but the house of cards, duct tape, bailing wire and chewing gum that goes into making a web application is astonishing.
I almost think it would be easier for somebody to come up with an entirely different "web application/dynamic document layout" technology stack with a sane and well-working model all the way through, so that stupid basic things like vertical alignment don't go unfixed year after year after year and we end up with the teetering tower of hacks we have today. We pretty much know what we want out of the web, somebody should just go build it from top to bottom all over again and throw out the huge train wreck we have to deal with today. Sure it would take a while to catch on, but I bet a more efficient set of tools and display environments would rapidly catch on.
We've done it before and replaced older broken technologies with newer, why not do it again?