20 Sites That Brought CSS into the Mainstream

ArtBuilders · Mar 4, 2009 23:29

Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, 20 Sites That Brought CSS into the Mainstream.
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Solid start. However, I'm avid user of jQuery but I just don't get it for this category, at least not w/out including Prototype & Scriptaculous as well. YUI... Really? In terms of omissions, I think cssbeauty.com should've made the list.

Anonymous · Mar 4, 2009 23:47

I worship CSS Zen Garden like a god. A little surprised that I didn't see Stu Nichols CSSPlay in there.

**peach** · Mar 5, 2009 02:19

I disagree with the fact that Position is Everything is below w3schools and css3.info!

Back in the days, CSS coding website layouts would have been nearly impossible without the IE bugfixes they published.

**WingMan** · Mar 5, 2009 05:58

I was surprised to not see the wired.com redesign by Douglas Bowman.

Love the rest of the list, though.

**Bob Carologees** · Mar 5, 2009 07:14

myspace? they did nothing but unleash an army of newfags

**Stomme poes** · Mar 5, 2009 07:26

But the article makes a point, Bob:

MySpace? Seriously? Yes, MySpace did a lot for CSS. When we talk about bringing anything into the mainstream, we have to consider beyond the mainstream web developer. MySpace brought CSS to an audience who couldn’t care less about it. The millions of people who customize their MySpace pages have all seen CSS; even if they fail to understand it, they’ve seen it. Consider this conversation:

Non-techie: So, what do you do?
Tim: I’m in web design and development, specializing in CSS.
Non-techie: What’s CSS?
Tim: You know that chunk of code you use to make your MySpace page look hideous? That’s CSS.
Non-techie: Oh yeah, okay.
I have that conversation more than I’d care to admit.

Esp since MySpace attracts children, it may have gotten someone who later decided to do the Web Design thing into starting right out with CSS instead of, say, teh tablez. Nothing else good there, but it's a start, right?

Doug Barned · Mar 5, 2009 07:55

How about cssplay.co.uk? I always loved that one...

**agsone** · Mar 5, 2009 08:02

Great article, you've definitely hit a bunch of pivotal sites, but can I add CSSplay to the "I was surprised not to see ..." list?

(Not enough posts to be allowed to properly link yet: www dot cssplay dot co dot uk)

Eric Meyer · Mar 5, 2009 08:42

Thank you for honoring me with the #2 spot! And I couldn't agree more with your selection for the top spot-- if it hadn't been for what Dave did with the Garden, CSS might have died a slow and dusty death by now.

Just one minor correction: my CSS Jedi status isn't self-proclaimed, but came about thanks to a long-ago article Bruce Lawson did for DMXZone. I actually find the various monikers people hang on me to be a little weird-- I'm just zis guy, you know?

**AutisticCuckoo** · Mar 5, 2009 09:21

Nice to see you here, Eric, and kudos for the Gag Halfrunt reference!

**timwright** · Mar 5, 2009 09:52

ha, sorry about the mis-information Eric, I think I got that from a presentation you did at AEA Boston. I hope you enjoyed the article

!

@peach - other than the first few sites, this really isn't a ranking for the sites, I tried to stay away from things like "This is the 7th most influential site"

@wingman - wired was a tough decision, but I felt like espn was a more addition to the list important. They're both very debatable though

**smartdub** · Mar 5, 2009 10:53

Thank's Tim.
This kind of list is a must for all junior developers to read.

Anonymous · Mar 5, 2009 12:13

Nice article, Tim. That co-worker that reminded you of ESPN was a genius. Another site that probably deserves a place on the list: sitepoint.com. Ouch!

Jeremy · Mar 5, 2009 15:05

I attribute 90% of my CSS skills to myspace. The desire to customize that page and Mike Davidson's article Hacking a more tasteful MySpace are the reason I now have a job doing web design at a television station. We all have to get our start somewhere.

neil · Mar 5, 2009 15:52

I noticed that section508.gov has about 44 markup errors on their homepage and tables are used for layout!

J · Mar 5, 2009 17:23

You are spot on with myspace. Its the modern equivilent of wanting to play computer games but having to type it all out from a book of code.
I never cared what I was typing I just wanted to play snake.... Now I program all day.

temhawk · Mar 6, 2009 11:20

I'd say Apple.com too!! =)

Nice list, I read everything. I knew most of the sites already</pride>

**somecallmejosh** · Mar 7, 2009 21:23

Did I miss Fast Company in that list?

mercime · Mar 8, 2009 02:29

How could you miss CSS Play? I learned all my pure CSS navigation dropdowns from that site since way back when.

Loughlin · Mar 9, 2009 17:17

I'd like to point out Dan Cederholm's site simplebits [dot] com - that was the first site that, in January 2005, I looked at the source code and said to myself, 'Where are all the tables'. I opened the page up in Dreamweaver and couldn't figure out what was going on so I dug a little deeper and found out all about CSS, standards and tableless layouts. Then I bought the sitepoint book on tableless design and the rest is history... :)

**Black Max** · Mar 9, 2009 20:42

There are those on these boards who snipe at Stu Nicholls, which might be the reason his CSSPlay site was left off. (Can't speak for the author, just speculating.) I can understand it to an extent, but Nicholls has done fabulous work making easy-to-use CSS elements--nav menus and other goodies--available to the non-professional coder like myself. I agree, he should be included.

And as much as I detest MySpace, I have to give it credit. As some of you know, I teach "at-risk" kids. I have an elective Web design class going on (very basic stuff), and some of the kids are interested in crafting pages to look and feel like MySpace pages. It's getting their interest and as a result they're learning to code and design. If it gets their attention and involvement, it's a good thing.

**timwright** · Mar 10, 2009 16:26

@Black Max & everyone
To be completely honest, CSSPlay was left off the list because I've never used it as a point of reference.

Although it does have a ton of great content, I would tend to lump it in with sites such as "Positioning is Everything" that contains mostly tips and tricks.

With them being in the same general category I only wanted to list one of them (as to not be redundant), and fit as many different sites in the list as possible. Much like what I did with the CSS template and gallery sites.

While CSSPlay has some great tips in it, I felt like many of them were things we could have come up with on our own and PIE contained fixes to problems that had us (me) pulling out our (my) hair.

Does that make sense?

**Black Max** · Mar 10, 2009 21:48

Originally Posted by timwright

@Black Max & everyone
To be completely honest, CSSPlay was left off the list because I've never used it as a point of reference.

Although it does have a ton of great content, I would tend to lump it in with sites such as "Positioning is Everything" that contains mostly tips and tricks.

With them being in the same general category I only wanted to list one of them (as to not be redundant), and fit as many different sites in the list as possible. Much like what I did with the CSS template and gallery sites.

While CSSPlay has some great tips in it, I felt like many of them were things we could have come up with on our own and PIE contained fixes to problems that had us (me) pulling out our (my) hair.

Does that make sense?

I can definitely see your point. (Side note: I live on tips and tricks.

)

**adstiger** · Mar 11, 2009 05:44

I give all the credit to cssbeauty.com only. They started the revolution.

**RussAdams** · Mar 14, 2009 14:48

ESPN.com was the reason I started learning CSS.

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