i will say that though i am predisposed to appreciate and agree with an article like this, any sort of value proposition around "some users don't want javascript" just doesn't... hit for me. and, mind you: i am a card-carrying arch user and have spent more time messing with browser scripting and web crawling, and am more of a True Believer than most. it's just such a niche user preference that i think it should largely be simply ignored. yes, i would love the world to be better for the "noscript" universe, no, i don't think that any individual "grassroots" effort should stake itself on "no javascript" being any part of its utility. i think there are a million other reasons why CSS should win out that are more compelling than an appeal to what feels, extremely ironically, like a callback to the "but 10% of your users use IE6" days... all in all, yes: this is somewhat of a minor point wrt. to the article (which btw i think is great), but i am just calling the "trend", such as it is / has been, for what (i think) it is.
jauntywundrkind · 3m ago
I agree; I don't find the noscript-ians to be useful or worth targeting.
At the same time, I want to emphasize more strongly the flip side that I think you don't at but don't go much I to: I do find that writing less code & using the platform is enormously valuable! Doing less & letting the browser do the thing is a very nice win.
wpollock · 9m ago
How can one learn modern CSS and is there an online reference that is up to date?
lemonwaterlime · 31m ago
Modern CSS is indeed great. I'm using modern CSS, htmx, and Haskell to develop apps and am loving it.
user3939382 · 39m ago
Who would have thought UI layout and rich formatting would be the hard problem that destroyed personal computing.
paulddraper · 1h ago
> Yes, the syntax isn’t the prettiest, but is it really that hard?
Explain float: clear?
Does that have anything to do with display: flow-root?
And white-space is not actually whitespace?
And when does vertical-align work vs not?
---
^ That is all CSS (and not particularly edgy CSS, except for flow-root).
So....yes, CSS is really that hard. Unless you use the subset of CSS that you have decided to learn + use. Not unlike C++.
rebane2001 · 1h ago
The sentence you quoted refers to the 'centering a div' example, not CSS as a whole.
whytaka · 45m ago
I haven't used float in at least half a decade. CSS is easy.
JohnFen · 34m ago
I suspect, as with programming languages, some people think in a way that makes it easy for them and others think in a way that makes it hard.
Personally -- and I'm no web dev, so I probably don't count -- I think CSS is hard (maybe more irritating than hard, but in any case I wouldn't call it easy). In large part because the syntax is ugly, but also because it just doesn't "mesh" with me. If I'm reading it or writing it, I always feel like I'm having to decode it. But I can easily and happily work with some programming languages that most devs would cross the street to avoid.
Maybe that's also why some people are attracted to being web devs and others aren't?
As a user, nothing would thrill me more than if web pages just stopped using JS, though, so I am very happy that there is a feasible alternative to doing that that web devs could enjoy!
At the same time, I want to emphasize more strongly the flip side that I think you don't at but don't go much I to: I do find that writing less code & using the platform is enormously valuable! Doing less & letting the browser do the thing is a very nice win.
Explain float: clear?
Does that have anything to do with display: flow-root?
And white-space is not actually whitespace?
And when does vertical-align work vs not?
---
^ That is all CSS (and not particularly edgy CSS, except for flow-root).
So....yes, CSS is really that hard. Unless you use the subset of CSS that you have decided to learn + use. Not unlike C++.
Personally -- and I'm no web dev, so I probably don't count -- I think CSS is hard (maybe more irritating than hard, but in any case I wouldn't call it easy). In large part because the syntax is ugly, but also because it just doesn't "mesh" with me. If I'm reading it or writing it, I always feel like I'm having to decode it. But I can easily and happily work with some programming languages that most devs would cross the street to avoid.
Maybe that's also why some people are attracted to being web devs and others aren't?
As a user, nothing would thrill me more than if web pages just stopped using JS, though, so I am very happy that there is a feasible alternative to doing that that web devs could enjoy!