Today I decided to "get my hands together" and dedicate some extra time exclusively to CSS. Result? I was amazed at how much it has evolved.
We often think of it as just a tool for changing colors or fonts, but the reality is that today CSS is absorbing tasks that were once exclusive to JavaScript.
Here's what struck me most about this deep dive:
Extreme Layout Engines: With CSS Grid and Flexbox, creating responsive interfaces that adapt to every millimeter of screen has become an almost magical art.
Native Performance: CSS-managed animations are incredibly seamless because they take advantage of hardware acceleration, ensuring a top-notch user experience (UX) without weighing down the browser.
Logic and Variables: Thanks to Custom Properties (CSS variables), maintaining brand consistency across thousands of pages has become a breeze.
New Frontiers: Features like :has(), query containers, and built-in math functions are making code cleaner, more readable, and incredibly powerful.
My take away today? 💡 Never underestimate the basics. Sometimes the solution is not to add another JS library, but to write a well-made line of CSS.
Little taste of what I'm working on
Top comments (3)
My favorite "you don't need js for that" is counter increment / reset. I don't think I've ever actually used it in production, but idk...
CSS Counters
Being new to the field I had no idea something like this existed, however I read the documentation on MDN it is very interesting I have to say. Thank you so much for sharing.
Happy to share. CSS has loads of weird and useful helpers. That one just happens to stick in my mind because CSS isn't usually stateful.