Discussed in SF; -- syntax still there. Variables in CSS not easily settable in script. Observing variable changes is difficult. @plinss to write up.

From Berlin f2f: @travisleithead thinks it's fine.

I'd like to note that the lack of an API is disappointing. I know there's work to get it done, but I don't understand the current state and would like to see it prioritized.

/cc @tabatkins

Getting/setting API is absolutely there - they're properties, so you just use the normal property API. Because of naming, you can't use the easy style.foo API, but style.getPropertyValue() is an old and well-established API.

Observing changes is indeed difficult, and is being addressed in Houdini http://drafts.css-houdini.org/css-properties-values-api/. Getting Variables out the door required keeping it extremely lean; it was the very first extension point CSS had ever grown!