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CSS could be so much more

Stuart Langridge discusses the nature of minimalism and CSS design, following a post by Sarabian. Stuart wonders if the current trend for relatively plain site designs is an interim period while we find our feet in the relatively new medium of CSS. I am sure it is—while I personally love the elegance and simplicity being showcase in many pure CSS sites, it’s not going to help convert die hard table fanatics. The annoying thing is that CSS is capable of so much—the power it gives us over background images should free designers to do things that were difficult or impossible with tables. I’m a rubbish designer, but I’m considering taking on the challenge of “interesting” CSS design in the not too distant future. If I can make things look good, anyone can ;)

Posted 16th July 2002 at 11:38 pm

This is CSS could be so much more by Simon Willison, posted on 16th July 2002.

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3 comments

  1. Good challenge. I think we should see what we all can come up with. However, as I pointed out before, the weblog, to be an effective way of communicating links and words, needs to have a certain style. Web designers can be more 'artist' in their approach. Show me a weblog with a table design that isn't relatively plain, and I'm sure it can be represented using CSS

    Paul Freeman - 17th July 2002 09:43 - #

  2. I agree - the more I play with CSS the more I realise that there's very little that can be done with tables that can't be done in CSS with a bit of effort. My point is that people just aren't bothering yet - CSS design is generally still in the "how do I do two columns?" stage. I can't wait to see what happens when people properly get to grips with the medium.

    Simon - 17th July 2002 10:13 - #

  3. My problem here is that I'm abysmal at design. I can appreciate it in others, but not generate it myself; now, this is one of the reasons I like CSS, because it makes it very easy to produce a "professional" looking design. I think that the WaSP's hearts-and-minds campaign is having effect among web developers; what I'd like to see now is it having effect among web *designers*. I suspect that this is what's behind the WaSP's big drive to make Dreamweaver and so on generate compliant validated code...

    sil - 17th July 2002 12:01 - #

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