CSS

Last month I went to CSS Day in Amsterdam, as an attendee this year, not a speaker. It was an excellent conference comprising the titular CSS day and a Browser API Special the day before.

By the end of CSS Day, my brain was full. Experiencing the depth of knowledge that���s contained in CSS now made me appreciate how powerful a language it is. I mean, the basics of CSS���selectors, properties, and values���can be grasped in a day. But you can spend a lifetime trying to master the details. Heck, you could spend a lifetime trying to master just one part of CSS, like layout, or text. And there would always be more to learn.

Unlike a programming language that requires knowledge of loops, variables, and other concepts, CSS is pretty easy to pick up. Maybe it���s because of this that it has gained the reputation of being simple. It is simple in the sense of ���not complex���, but that doesn���t mean it���s easy. Mistaking ���simple” for ���easy” will only lead to heartache.

I think that���s what���s happened with some programmers coming to CSS for the first time. They���ve heard it���s simple, so they assume it���s easy. But then when they try to use it, it doesn���t work. It must be the fault of the language, because they know that they are smart, and this is supposed to be easy. So they blame the language. They say it���s broken. And so they try to ���fix” it by making it conform to a more programmatic way of thinking.

I can���t help but think that they would be less frustrated if they would accept that CSS is not easy. Simple, yes, but not easy. Using CSS at scale has a learning curve, just like any powerful technology. The way to deal with that is not to hammer the technology into a different shape, but to get to know it, understand it, and respect it.