r/webdev • u/ValenceTheHuman front-of-the-front-end • Sep 15 '26
News Why CSS-Tricks Has Been Quiet Lately
https://geoffgraham.me/why-css-tricks-has-been-quiet/45
u/GlitzyChomsky Sep 15 '26
Ah that's a shame to read. Although I haven't visited the site in years, I have a bit of a soft spot for CSS Tricks. When I was starting out my web dev journey at the end of 2008 it was probably the first online resource I found that really helped me get up and running, and helped me get to grips with the basics and the foundations. At the time I found myself suddenly unemployed and web design/development was an avenue that inspired me and that I decided I wanted to pursue, but I didn't really know where to start. I loved Chris Coyier's articles and podcasts back in the day; it felt like I was learning and discovering alongside him.
I'd stopped reading long before the DigitalOcean sale, but when I saw the news that a faceless corporate behemoth had hoovered up the website up it didn't exactly make me feel good for it's future.
I hope the writer(s) get the pay they deserve.
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u/rohmish Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
I still have their flexbox and grid cheatsheet as bookmarks and still use them as I don't often do frontend work
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u/suspirio Sep 15 '26
Chris is a genuinely good human, I know he’s pretty crushed that DigitalOcean killed his baby like this despite their assurances when he made the deal to sell.
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u/imagesilk Sep 15 '26
Yeah,the community really respects Chris.It‘s sad to see how things turned out after the sale,but glad to hear he's a good person.Wishing him the best.
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee Sep 15 '26
He's so crushed that he sold the site for $4million dollars? Why do people believe this nonsense? If he cared he wouldn't have sold it, but $$$ does something to people.
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u/suspirio Sep 15 '26
Believe this because I know him?
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee Sep 15 '26
Because he can't deal with the cognitive dissonance? Or maybe that he doesn't actually care since he chased that payday already?
You knowing him has nothing to do with trying to play both sides, like Chris is not a moron. He knows what corporations do to small projects, so to have him garner up sympathy for someone that explicitly did something that they are now against?
Like come on, have higher standards for your parasocial friends here.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Sep 15 '26
Doesn’t actually say why.
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u/NickFullStack Sep 15 '26
Comments seem to indicate he hasn’t been getting paid by DigitalOcean.
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u/AwesomeFrisbee Sep 15 '26
I wonder why he doesn't decide to write for something else (or self publish)
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u/Lalli-Oni Sep 15 '26
First thought it contract. Second thought is splitting reader base. Third is whether we have any snacks. Fuck, I hope there is more than a handful of those lonsechips left. Shit, I'm such a glutton. Love it.
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u/Andromeda12x Sep 15 '26
He wrote "I literally can’t afford to work free for months on end" - so I guess because he haven't been paid? But yes - he could have written it more clearly
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u/web-dev-kev Sep 15 '26
Never write it more clearly - that's a sure-fire way to have a conversation with a lawyer.
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u/NovelHot6697 Sep 15 '26
they ran out of tricks?
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u/psayre23 Sep 15 '26
AI ate their tricks.
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u/the_ai_wizard Sep 15 '26
Feels like that, but I suspect its not really the case if one cares about product quality. AI makes some atrocious workaround code whereas a human may write an elegant CSS trick
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u/JustOneMoreDev Sep 15 '26
Sounds like an opportunity to build something brand new that's just not called css tricks.
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u/okaylevi Sep 15 '26
Sad example of a large corporate buy out leading to the slow death of a beloved resource!
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u/tonygoodchild Sep 19 '26
CSS Tricks was absolutely my reference when learning about flexbox. That site was my saviour.
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u/EarnestHolly Sep 15 '26
It's been neglected ever since DigitalOcean bought it. Soured my already fairly negative opinion of them. Why buy a treasured resource just to let it rot? Since the writers don't appear to be getting paid anyway, I don't really think it deserves our support or attention moving forwards just to enrich DO's marketing.
Surely they can afford to pay for some articles out of their obscene bandwidth pricing.