Kenshin, about your last reply, you say this "got delayed due to other items with higher priorities".

I guess the KendoUI programmers were kept busy with the addition of so many new features to the framework over the past 3 years, that they were unable to finish the ones already in the framework.

Why is it almost always like this with framework vendors ? They seem to be so eager to release new features, all the while ignoring the fact that the features already in the framework need tender loving care to make them usable.

Anyway, like I mentioned in my previous comment, I've ditched KendoUI a long time ago, and I will definitely encourage others to do the same. We don't need new features, we need working features.

2.5 years later, and only "under review"

Such a small fix... way to go  Telerik !

I've bailed out long ago.

There is a potential workaround on StackOverflow. Still not as clean as official support though. 

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15090913/kendo-mvvm-how-to-define-a-custom-css-binding

Hey, Jeff Taylor, I am trying to get your proposed code to work but it isn't working. Is there any way I can get in touch with you to discuss this? I really like this idea.

This might be better seen if put in the actual MVVM section.

I like Jeff Taylor's suggested approach.  it would be nice to see this officially added to the next release.  CSS binding really is cleaner than style binding.

Code to do this is as follows, this definitely needs to get into the next release since it a couple 
line addition:

//When configuring all the bindings in kendo.web.js
binders.css = Binder.extend({
        refresh: function (key) {
            $(this.element).toggleClass(key, this.bindings.css[key].get());
        }
    });


//Within the bind element method in kendo.web.js
if (bind.css) {
     bindings.css = createBindings(bind.css, source, Binding);
}


//Then you can use it as follows:

<div data-bind="css: { active: itemSelected }"/> 
//This will set the active class on if the itemSelected property of your viewModel is TRUE and will remove the class if it's false.  It's not a full implementation of the knockoutjs one but its a good start