CSS makes websites look like themselves

CSS is the programming language that controls colors, fonts, borders, animations, and layouts. It's what makes WIRED look like WIRED.

Programmers gatekeep CSS status

Some developers insist CSS isn't a real programming language because it lacks a compile step, doesn't throw runtime errors, and isn't Turing complete. But that gatekeeping misses the point.

Simple doesn't mean easy or unserious

CSS started with 50 properties in 1996. Today it has at least 500, enabling complex projects like Doom recreations, holographic Pokémon cards, and 3D-rendering engines.

“simple does not mean easy”

CSS creator gets no recognition

JavaScript creator Brendan Eich is famous for building the language in 10 days at Netscape. CSS creator Håkon Wium Lie, a Norwegian, is barely known despite equal importance to the web.

CSS treated as decorative, not essential

In the browser's trio of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, people treat CSS as less important or purely decorative. But legibility and design matter to how people experience websites.

Frontend work coded as feminine

CSS developers work on the visible frontend, which carries an undertone that style and beauty work is female work. This affects salaries, hiring standards, and website accessibility.

Women pushed toward frontend despite preference

A talented backend engineer was assigned frontend work after joining a company full-time, despite never expressing interest. She had to rebrand herself as unmistakably backend-focused to escape the assumption.

CSS opens coding to outsiders

At Kode With Klossy, a tech camp for young women and gender-expansive students, CSS became a gateway into coding for people who didn't fit the nerdy-computer-boy stereotype.

Gender diversity worse in backend roles

The State of CSS survey found 11 percent women and 3 percent nonbinary respondents. JavaScript reported only 6 percent female and 1 percent nonbinary, showing frontend has slightly better diversity.

CSS neglect creates sameness online

When CSS is undervalued, websites rely on frameworks like Bootstrap and Tailwind that make everything look alike. This creates visual monotony across the internet, especially in startups.

Modern CSS is incredibly powerful

Recent features like container queries, the :has() pseudo-class, and new color spaces like oklch make CSS far more capable. Upcoming if() conditionals and @function will finally silence claims it isn't a real language.

CSS is end-user programming

CSS is the closest language we have to end-user programming, where anyone can build something useful in an hour, yet experts can build Doom. That's the beauty of a simple yet deep language.

“A novice can build something useful in an hour, and experts can build fucking Doom”