private function _parse_properties($str)
    {
        $properties = preg_split("/;(?=(?:[^\(]*\([^\)]*\))*(?![^\)]*\)))/", $str);
        $DEBUGCSS = $this->_dompdf->getOptions()->getDebugCss();

        if ($DEBUGCSS) {
            print '[_parse_properties';
        }

        // Create the style
        $style = new Style($this, Stylesheet::ORIG_AUTHOR);

        foreach ($properties as $prop) {
            // If the $prop contains an url, the regex may be wrong
            // @todo: fix the regex so that it works everytime
            /*if (strpos($prop, "url(") === false) {
              if (preg_match("/([a-z-]+)\s*:\s*[^:]+$/i", $prop, $m))
                $prop = $m[0];
            }*/
            //A css property can have " ! important" appended (whitespace optional)
            //strip this off to decode core of the property correctly.
            //Pass on in the style to allow proper handling:
            //!important properties can only be overridden by other !important ones.
            //$style->$prop_name = is a shortcut of $style->__set($prop_name,$value);.
            //If no specific set function available, set _props["prop_name"]
            //style is always copied completely, or $_props handled separately
            //Therefore set a _important_props["prop_name"]=true to indicate the modifier

            /* Instead of short code, prefer the typical case with fast code
          $important = preg_match("/(.*?)!\s*important/",$prop,$match);
            if ( $important ) {
              $prop = $match[1];
            }
            $prop = trim($prop);
            */
            if ($DEBUGCSS) print '(';

            $important = false;
            $prop = trim($prop);

            if (substr($prop, -9) === 'important') {
                $prop_tmp = rtrim(substr($prop, 0, -9));

                if (substr($prop_tmp, -1) === '!') {
                    $prop = rtrim(substr($prop_tmp, 0, -1));
                    $important = true;
                }
            }

            if ($prop === "") {
                if ($DEBUGCSS) print 'empty)';
                continue;
            }

            $i = mb_strpos($prop, ":");
            if ($i === false) {
                if ($DEBUGCSS) print 'novalue' . $prop . ')';
                continue;
            }

            $prop_name = rtrim(mb_strtolower(mb_substr($prop, 0, $i)));
            $value = ltrim(mb_substr($prop, $i + 1));
            if ($DEBUGCSS) print $prop_name . ':=' . $value . ($important ? '!IMPORTANT' : '') . ')';
            //New style, anyway empty
            //if ($important || !$style->important_get($prop_name) ) {
            //$style->$prop_name = array($value,$important);
            //assignment might be replaced by overloading through __set,
            //and overloaded functions might check _important_props,
            //therefore set _important_props first.
            if ($important) {
                $style->important_set($prop_name);
            }
            //For easier debugging, don't use overloading of assignments with __set
            $style->$prop_name = $value;
            //$style->props_set($prop_name, $value);
        }
        if ($DEBUGCSS) print '_parse_properties]';

        return $style;
    }