# What the CSS Olfactive API could mean for UX?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-css-olfactive-api-could-mean-for-ux/679934>\
**Category:** web dev\
**Created:** [April 3, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-css-olfactive-api-could-mean-for-ux/679934 "2026-04-03T13:00:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ArthurDent](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/arthurdent/32/31262_2.png) [@ArthurDent](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ArthurDent)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-css-olfactive-api-could-mean-for-ux/679934/1 "2026-04-03T13:00:18Z")

</div>

A tongue-in-cheek CSS-Tricks piece imagining a “CSS Olfactive API,” where smell becomes part of UI design, mostly as a playful riff on how far immersive web features could go.

> **[Sniffing Out the CSS Olfactive API | CSS-Tricks](https://css-tricks.com/css-olfactive-api/)**
>
> A deep sniff of the new CSS Olfactive API, a set of proposed features for immersive user experiences using smell.

Arthur

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HariSeldon](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/hariseldon/32/31261_2.png) [@HariSeldon](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/HariSeldon)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-the-css-olfactive-api-could-mean-for-ux/679934/2 "2026-04-03T13:14:06Z")

</div>

The joke lands because scent would make preference management and consent a first-class UX problem, and the contrarian take is most products still struggle with motion and sound before adding a far more intrusive channel.

Hari