It was March 2022 when I sold CSS-Tricks to DigitalOcean. So it’s been just about 2 years now.
This was me and my wife’s thinking:
- The negotiated sale price was fair.
- They are a big company (public!) with tons of resources, and their clear stated strategy was to invest in content and community, because that’s where the top of the funnel is, and it’s good for business. They didn’t just talk this way, they were obviously investing in content and community. There is a chance CSS-Tricks becomes better.
- They were already decently well known for good content in DevOps and Back End, but were missing solid Front-End content. Filling this gap makes sense.
- They would rip all the ads off the site. There would be only one “ad”: use DigitalOcean. I’m no advertising hater, it’s always been good to me, but the thought of CSS-Tricks as a clean ad-free site was appealing.
- They would keep on Geoff, the lead editor, if he wanted it. He did and they did.
- I was way way too busy trying to run CSS-Tricks and co-run CodePen and it was hard on me.
After the sale, things seemed kinda fine for a bit, and that was encouraging. It was cool seeing new voices publishing new work I had nothing to do with. Then started to limp, using up the momentum that it had.
A year later they fired Geoff along with everyone else working on content and community. That was the real torpedo.
It seems DigitalOcean got excited when the whole industry started doing huge layoffs, they followed suit and slurped up the profits. The necessary directional change was: screw content and community. A month after that, the last article was published on CSS-Tricks, an overview of Passkeys, which will now apparently be on the homepage forever, a very strange bit of content to emblazon the tombstone of the site. They also added a cookie button that looks like a 4th grader designed it?? And started publishing every blog post as a guide???
How do I feel about all that? Well I’m not stoked, but I’m an adult I knew the risks. I sold the site. They now control it. They can do whatever they want with it. They could replace the entire site with an <h1> tag that says Chris Coyier smells like donkeys and that would be their right.
I’ve heard from plenty of people who are pissed. Some are pissed at me. Sellout, yadda yadda. But I’m actually fairly pleased that the site is still online, relatively untouched, and with everybody’s bylines, including my own, intact. That’s a better outcome than scotch.io, purchased from Chris Sev, which was neutered and ultimately turned off. That’s a much more inglorious ending that I hope never happens to CSS-Tricks.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen, although during my 3-month consulting period I know they were very interested in porting the content to their own internal SSG system. As someone who has built a lot of SSG-powered sites and a lot of WordPress-sites, all I can say is CSS-Tricks is WordPress-y-as-hell, and I cannot possibly imagine a conversion that maintains any level of quality as being worth the effort.
A lot more people are pissed at DigitalOcean. People saying they’ll never use them again, and generally upset they’d take such a useful asset and do nothing with it. A void in the industry that doesn’t sit right.
Does any of this negative sentiment actually affect DigitalOcean meaningfully? I have no clue. It can’t help, but I’m sure if it was that big of a deal they would prioritize fixing it somehow. It seems more likely it’s a oh well you win some you lose some shrug it off situation. It’s almost certainly not acting as that strong top-of-funnel player they originally were hoping for it.
I bet you could probably guess all that, or piece it together from things publicly said.
What you probably don’t know is that I tried to get it back.
I got an email from a fella a while back who is now a VP of Content & Community at DigitalOcean who came over from the Cloudways acquisition. I think “ownership” of CSS-Tricks kinda fell is his lap after some internal shifts. Unlike his predecessors, he didn’t have any hangups about just talking directly to me. What he originally wanted was just to learn what it’s going to take to get spun back up and producing again. A “return on investment” is what he was after, understandably. I was as frank with him as I am with anyone: It’s gonna take a lot. They would need a new lead editor, and you might be able to see how people might be squeamish about that role with the last one publicly axed not long ago. Maybe that person knows WordPress development pretty well? If not, ideally, you have someone know that knows WordPress pretty well, because the site uses everything. And maybe that person knows how to wrangle up really good front-end specific writers? If you find that magical person, that’s a developer, writer, community builder, and site-running editor, it’s going to be expensive. More likely you gotta build a team again, and it’s going to take them a while to get things going, so your investment gets deeper and deeper, while the return remains unclear.
This got me thinking.
Maybe a little braggadocious here, butttt I’m basically the perfect person for the job. Let’s just say the most perfect person on Earth for the job lolz.
But I’m not even sure I’d want to do it again, and I have no idea if they would even want me to. But I definitely don’t wanna do free consulting work on it.
So I took my big swing.
Hereās my best (and wildest) idea.
I run CSS-Tricks again myself. CSS-Tricks is big and complicated. Anybody walking in the door alone is going to have a serious learning curve just in getting comfortable operating the basics. I already know every inch of it.
I get people reading again. I get people writing again. I get people excited again. I erase any bad mojo against DigitalOcean, fix that brand damage. Get people saying they want to use DigitalOcean instead of saying they never will again. (e.g. 1, 2, 3)
Then we do the most valuable possible thing for DigitalOcean: get content on there that helps people know about and do things on DigitalOcean. There are some big wins there. Astro is big right now in front-end, why isnāt DigitalOcean on this list? Letās get that article written and linked up.
We can make a special section of the site that is just DigitalOcean content, making it easy to browse and find stuff.
Then we do the second most valuable thing we can do: move the hosting to DigitalOcean and have it be a living, breathing endorsement of DO being a great place to host a WordPress website.
Now weāre back in action.
Why would I do that?
You transfer ownership of CSS-Tricks back to me.
Why would you do that?
- Youāre trying to get to break even on it. This means you arenāt spending any more money and time. Youāre now just extracting marketing, branding, and conversion value out of money already spent.
- You donāt have to spend any more time on this, personally or institutionally. Any other internal costs are gone.
- The community will love it.
The trick is in the details. Weād get to an agreement on what has to happen for it to work. For example, no other web host can be advertised on the site for X time, etc.
I’d call that a big swing, anyway. I’ll just take it back please and thank you. But I feel like I made the case OK that it’s not completely crazy.
Crickets for a while.
A few back and forth emails like “still thinking about this…” later, and the conclusion is that the fella basically doesn’t have the “conviction to push it within the halls at DO”.
Understandable, really. I wouldn’t want to be handed a huge golden nugget by my boss and then ask for a meeting and be like “I think we should give it back to the leprechaun.”
When I pitched that, I wasn’t even 100% sure I wanted it, mainly for stress reasons. But I’m sure I could have figured out a way to run a more minimal ship with reduced stress and the site would be in a much more pleasant place.
Anyway, if you want to know some basic information about Passkeys I know a site you can check out.
Thank you for this honest behind the scene look. I imagine you must feel some grief and anger, pity it ended like this.
Still, you made a piece of web dev history with this project and a whole generation (or two) of devs will remember it.
My emotions about it are not that strong I promise! A slightly better outcome would have been nice, but I’m sure the complete story is not written yet.
Such a damn shame!
Would you be open to starting again from scratch?
If yes,
We might have an opportunity for you
Nir Zohar
Wix
Thanks for reaching out Nir. My days are pretty packed at the moment. I was just doing user testing today for a CodePen 2.0 release that’s coming and that’s my main focus. Maybe someday though!
Hi Chris, long time reader and fan here that happened to see this exchange and wanted to make sure that you (and anyone else who might see this) are fully aware of how Wix has faced a lot of justified criticism for their aggressive support of the Israeli military and their brutal and senseless killing of innocent Palestinians.
You can read more about details of how they have acted here: irishtimes.com/business/2023/10/28/wix-addressing-internal-messages-on-israel-hamas-conflict/
So good to hear your voice coming through so clearly in your writing and kindof an itch scratched to know you swung for that ā honestly, a win-win for DO. You’re a lighthouse for a lot of us who type html for a living and I’m still glad (for you) that you got a clean way out to focus on other things.
Ideally, this shakes the hive to maybe make this idea happen. Itās been a wild year for CSS and seo-optimized chatbot garbage sure isn’t sharing the knowledge with the clarity you (and Geoff, et al) did for so many of us for so long.
What a ride this was, but ultimately (and Iām speaking from the experience of having a lot on my own plate, which feels like very little comparatively) I canāt help but think this is the final sign that itās best to keep it in the rear view. As much as Iād selfishly like to see you assume the role of the webās own Jon Stewart and return a once-invaluable property to its former glory I canāt help but think that youāve given (and continue to give) more than enough to the community and owe yourself some rest and space to decompress.
And while Iād love to see someone take up the helm in some capacity (there are a fortunately still a number of genuinely amazing folks curating quality frontend content) I also feel like CSS-Tricks had the kind of lighting that simply couldnāt strike twice given the current state of things. Iād love to be wrong though.
What a perfect response because CSS-Tricks under Digital Ocean is about as good as The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
It sounds like you’re reflecting on the evolution of CSS-Tricks and its impact on the web development community. Your sentiment about the site’s journey and the role it has played is thoughtful and resonates with many who have followed its growth.
While it’s natural to feel nostalgic and hopeful for a revival, it’s also important to acknowledge the value of the contributions already made. CSS-Tricks has been a valuable resource for many, and your acknowledgment of the need for rest and space for decompression is wise.
Change is inevitable, and while CSS-Tricks may evolve or pass the torch to new voices, its legacy and impact remain significant. Your words capture a sense of appreciation for what has been while acknowledging the potential for new beginnings in the ever-changing landscape of web development.
DO’s behavior and attitude is just crazy. It first destroyed Scotch.io (and Chris has moved on from DO) and then CSS Tricks. And even on its own site, then three “Featured Content” pieces are from Nov 2021 and March 2018. I’ve used, and liked, DO for a long time. But you gotta wonder what are they thinking and how much trouble are they in.
Can you make a new one?
I have a few domains like css.foo, css.codes, css.expert, css.fish, css.fun, css.garden, css.info, css.news, css.wiki, moderncss.design and more.
css.wiki and css.codes sound interesting….
I own https://blog.javascripttoday.com, if someone wanted to do something with it, I just don’t have as much time as I’d like for it.
I could! You could! Lots of people already are!
https://css-irl.info/
https://css-articles.com/
https://moderncss.dev/
To name a few.
I’m helping out Frontend Masters with Boost.
https://frontendmasters.com/blog/
It’s excellent you should subscribe :)
I’ve always wondered what happened, now I can move on from the 5 stages of grief, and get on with living among the great webdev community on mastodon.
<3
Such a sad story, Chris. I really feel for you, and the community that you helped create.
There is nothing… like, literally nothing… that comes close to what CSS Tricks provided in terms of quality (front-end) content, and community.
Smashing Mag is great, but doesn’t have that community feel.
I’m really pleased for Geoff that he has found a new “home”. His articles are still very much worth reading!
I’m sure there would be wide support for an effort to regain control of CSS Tricks… or, at the very least, ensure that its legacy is never removed.
Finally, props to you for the grace you’ve shown. I’m not sure I would’ve handled it so well!
CSS Tricks definitely is a staple in the web design and development community and I would love to see it being brought back to life.
Thanks for everything you’ve invested. And who know what the future might still bring.
Thanks for expounding on this, I’ve been saddened by the lack of quality content coming from CSS-Tricks, since it was a sizable chunk of my introduction to web development, among other great writers on blogs around the internet.
I’m glad that the historical posts are still being kept up, but I wish I could still point new developers towards CSS-Tricks when I’m trying to help them get started.
Best of luck w/ codepen / maybe starting CSS-Tricks back up
This story be wild, I give you that!
Also love the direct, “can I have it back, please?” offer. I wonder which part of this wasn’t convincing.
Too bad CSS-Tricks is nowhere closer to resurrection though. I was really hoping we’ll see anything going there again.
Thanks for your transparency. I really loved CSS Tricks. Sad to know the website hasn’t been taken over as it should be…
CSS Tricks is a huge part of what got me into web dev over a decade ago. Sad to see the way things are shaping up. Thank you for all your work over the years, Chris, and for your candor here. Your work and your writing made building for the web more accessible and fun.
No matter where things land, you’ve made an outsized impact on what it’s like to build for the web. Thank you for everything!
For a long time I’ve awarded CSS tricks with the highest honor I can bestow: a bookmark keyword set in firefox so “flex” goes directly to the flexbox guide.
Hope you get it back, and I’m glad at least they haven’t taken it down.
I’ve learned so much from CSS-Tricks. It’s really disappointing to see that DigitalOcean is doing such a stupid thing.
I don’t understand what’s so hard in maintaining a WordPress blog? Can you (or someone else) elaborate on big, complicated and learning curve? I’m sure it would take taste, domain knowledge and PR talent to maintain it’s quality, but is that what you meant?
The site looks pretty simple to me and wordpress developers are cheap.
haha, wasn’t sure it was sarcasm until I noticed your nickname :)
You were a huge part of my journey into this space and to the comfortable employment I enjoy today, and the community of other CSS nerd webdevs I surround myself with. I wish I were more shocked that DO screwed it all up for us, but that’s sort of the way of things lately. Thank you for what you’ve already done to make a quirky and frustrating tool into something fun and enjoyable to work with for so many of us. It rules so hard, and the tooling you’ve provided via Codepen is indispensable for letting other developers use what they learned from CSS-Tricks and share that knowledge with their colleagues, collaboratively. Shame about CSS-Tricks, but hopefully the community will fill in the void eventually.
Fingers crossed that DO will do the ārightā thing. Seems like fate or maybe karma will decide the outcom ā¦ but Chris, is there a non-compete that prevents you from starting anew?
I always thought an interesting feature that codepen could offer for Pro plan users is a blog. Maybe SSG based or WP or something completely home-brewed. The killer feature: instead of blog posts in a traditional sense, Iād like to do this: āClick here to turn this Pen into a Blog Postā. Anyway, seems like that could be the community ā¦ If I had something to offer as a CSS Tricks writer, Iād be embedding (and linking to) codepens.
Also, kinda find it funny that codepen gets autocorrected to codeine ā¦ very apropos: youāve relieved a lot of pain over the years!
Check out the heartfelt apology in the bio of Neal Fennimore, the author of the passkeys article.
https://css-tricks.com/author/nealfennimore/
Also, an apology from Chris Coyier is in the thumbnail when this post is shared on social media.
Upon seeing it, I realized that screen-reader-users will not experience that sentiment, and I wondered if there is even a way to specify alt text for it… There is! Its og:image:alt, but I have no idea if any social sites actually use it…
Just talked to Chris Coyier, and we had a very constructive conversation on the current and future state of CSS-Tricks. We are both determined to find a path forward to bring CSS-Tricks back in service of the community. As the CEO of DigitalOcean, I agree that we havenāt lived up to our responsibility as the stewards of the site and it has gone ignored for too long but we are committed to finding a solution which hopefully includes Chris Coyier in some capacity. Stay tunedā¦
-paddy
I wrote an article when I heard about the sale, the title says itself Donāt Sell Your Indie Business to Digital Ocean!
CSS Trick is not the only victim of DO, there are past victims that are well loved that get killed in the most brutal way (whole site diminished into a 301 redirect), e.g. https://scotch.io/
Wow what a wild ride. Sorry it went that way Chris. Feels like a big corporate mess.
I would love to set up a website that aggregates all high quality CSS tricks and links to the original articles (if DO takes no futher action). That could be a great way to (re)build the community. You could start with simply copying the first few lines and linking to the original articles. Frontend Masters could be one of them, but the great front-end articles from Google could be in there as well. It could grow from simple links into guest posts, etc. I think it would be easy to start and at the same time it has the potential to become a very powerful tool (if the quality is good). I would love to discuss this further with you (@Chris), if you are interested and when your negotiations with DO fail.
As well as all the great content on CSS Tricks I used to love how you’d completely redesign the site every 6 months or so, using the site itself as a demonstration of building websites, not just a repo. It was always a wow moment of inspiration for me.
There is one way. We can all let DO know via social media and email, how we actually feel about them.
I teach webdesign basics and CSS-Tricks is still one of my favorite websites for students to learn more about Flexbox, Grid and many more things.
I’m pretty disappointed about the situation but this post weirdly brings me closure lol
Until recently, I was on CSS-Tricks and Codepen every day, just to see what’s new – what’s possible. If there was something, I usually spent way too many days and nights creating my own version of it to understand and learn it. A great resource for CSS. It’s a shame it had to come to this.
But on a smaller scale, I also once sold a project that was to be continued, but was then quickly discontinued and changed. At the time, all references to me were even removed in order to claim that the project came from the buyer. That’s just the way it is. We know the risk, but sometimes you regret the sale because years later you wish you had kept it. Often you then have new ideas and let it rest, you could have done it yourself.
Thanks for making this post, appreciate your work in the community.
Hi Chris, Matt Abrams here. I was on the technical editing team at DO when we acquired scotch.io and css-tricks. It broke my heart what they did. It was actually amazing to see leadership’s utter disregard for the community writing program that DO had built. I left before my whole team got fired, and this still makes me sad. I am sorry. I apologize we didn’t do more for you.
I am now the founding community engineer at Railway, and one of the things I told them in my interview is “I want this job so that what happened at DO doesn’t happen here. I’ll never let that happen again.” They got it.
If you ever want to host anything on our platform. reach out. matt at railway dot app. We would love to work with you. I personally would love to buy css-tricks out from under DO, stand it up on Railway, and get you back in the drivers seat, or in some paid adivsory capacity.
Chris, I was an avid follower of CSS-tricks since 2010 (well, technically I’m a Chris Coyier follower). This is so disappointing to hear. Everything you have built has been a game changer for web development. Thank you for your continued contribution to this society whether its through CSS-tricks or somewhere else.
P.S. Fun name for your next project: CCCSSS (Chris Coyier CSS Samples :))
Dang.
Helping people learn web development via IRC, I had always enjoyed and frequently referenced CSS Tricks, and preferred it over less savoury sites such as W3Schools. Never liked that one, stealing brand recognition from the W3C, with which they had no relationship.
But now DigitalOcean have consumed CSS Tricks. It’sā¦ tragic, and I’m sorry. Thank you.
Well, that explains a lot. CSS Tricks was my go-to for all reference and I always enjoyed the articles, they inspired a lot of my coding and ideas. I still pop back to CSS Tricks from time to time for the Almanac but the life has gone out of the website.
You and the team put so much of yourselves into the site and we all felt it. Now it just seems like a cold corporate wasteland.
Most of my inspiration now comes from Codepen and I’ve been a member for ages. It has the community feel that CSS Tricks has now lost.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into Codepen and for all the hard work you did on creating CSS Tricks (you and the rest of team – mostly now found on Codepen). Let’s hope they don’t ditch the Almanac at least.
From a grateful coder.