I'd agree with the sentiment, but for a different reason. I think the method can be useful and maintainable, but, the problem with this implementation seems to

I'd agree with the sentiment, but for a different reason. I think the method can be useful and maintainable, but, the problem with this implementation seems to be a mix of design (font colors, sizes) and functionality, and a lack of documentation. Splitting the CSS into two distinct pieces (or better: files, but I realize that's a limitation of jsfiddle) would go a very long way to making this technique maintainable. Having documentation that then shows the required HTML structure and the necessary classes to add would help immensely. Essentially, build it like a UI library that just happens to be written in CSS. Right now, it's just a demo of a technique that's not built in a reusable way, and you need to be pretty decent with CSS in order to understand and use it (since you pretty much have to re-implement it every time you want to use it). To be fair, the HN submission and site don't make any claims it's anything but this.