3 ms·

I want to say, as a guy who is not much of a web developer but is trying to make a web site, css is f'ing frustrating. For example I found a CSS-only stylized

by jgh 8y ago

I want to say, as a guy who is not much of a web developer but is trying to make a web site, css is f'ing frustrating. For example I found a CSS-only stylized dropdown list, which is great. Why should I have to use Javascript to stylize a dropdown list? Anyway I take the component and css from codepen and put it in my site and it doesnt work, at all. Works perfectly on codepen, doesn't work on my site. As far as I can tell there really isn't a way of figuring out _why_ it isn't working either. There aren't any errors or anything, no real means of debugging it. I'm basically going through line-by-line the computed CSS for all the different parts and trying to see what's different and why that is impacting the look of the thing. Very frustrating.

TheAceOfHearts 8y ago
Have you had more positive experiences with any native alternative? My experience with em has generally been that they work well until you want to customize things. I think people tend to seriously underestimate the complexity involved in dealing with layout and styles. CSS has some poor defaults and plenty of quirks, but it's also incredibly powerful and not that difficult if you bother taking the time to learn it properly. You are struggling because you have not learned to use the tool correctly. Try implementing a few basic layout algorithms as a weekend project. I believe it'll change your view of CSS.
- brobdingnagians 8y ago
  So true. I looked at implementing some layout algorithms in PDF pages for a project I was working on; eventually realized I should just use the standard elements in the library I was using and forget about anything custom because otherwise I'd be making a separate product...
freehunter 8y ago
The worst part is trying to figure out which CSS property takes precedent and why that well is grey instead of white when you clearly said you wanted it to be white. But it’s inheriting it’s color from a parent div... somewhere.
- johnday 8y ago
  The CSS inspector in most browsers these days has a "computed" section which lists every property and where it comes from, in order of precedence.
madeofpalk 8y ago
I think any language or technology you're not familiar with is frustrating and difficult to use. Not trying to say that CSS is the best it can be, but I see lots of developers think that CSS isn't 'real programming' or think they can just float (heh) in and out of CSS development, not spend the effort on understanding it.

by jgh 8y ago

TheAceOfHearts 8y ago

Have you had more positive experiences with any native alternative? My experience with em has generally been that they work well until you want to customize things. I think people tend to seriously underestimate the complexity involved in dealing with layout and styles. CSS has some poor defaults and plenty of quirks, but it's also incredibly powerful and not that difficult if you bother taking the time to learn it properly. You are struggling because you have not learned to use the tool correctly. Try implementing a few basic layout algorithms as a weekend project. I believe it'll change your view of CSS.

brobdingnagians 8y ago
So true. I looked at implementing some layout algorithms in PDF pages for a project I was working on; eventually realized I should just use the standard elements in the library I was using and forget about anything custom because otherwise I'd be making a separate product...

freehunter 8y ago

The worst part is trying to figure out which CSS property takes precedent and why that well is grey instead of white when you clearly said you wanted it to be white. But it’s inheriting it’s color from a parent div... somewhere.

johnday 8y ago
The CSS inspector in most browsers these days has a "computed" section which lists every property and where it comes from, in order of precedence.

madeofpalk 8y ago

I think any language or technology you're not familiar with is frustrating and difficult to use. Not trying to say that CSS is the best it can be, but I see lots of developers think that CSS isn't 'real programming' or think they can just float (heh) in and out of CSS development, not spend the effort on understanding it.