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Comment by untog | Hacker News Reader

It's not really there to demonstrate viable page designs, it's to show the flexibility that CSS allows.

sure I get that ... it's really really cool for that. great for finding out how to do X by example. Just too bad the examples are so ugly

not sure why you got down votes. some of the examples, i agree with you, aren't pleasing. quite a few are.

it's been a great tool to show beginners, imo. it clearly demonstrates the effect/power of CSS on the aesthetics of a site. the fact that some examples are "so ugly" can be used to convey that impact...

I think the downvotes are coming from people who have known and been inspired by CSS Zen Garden "back in the day".

The thing you need to remember is that CSS Zen Garden was big around 2004 and most of the designs are from that period. The site was a big inspiration at the time to show that with a single HTML file, you could completely change the appearance of a site. This was huge!

So the downvotes are likely coming with a thought along the line of "how dare you show disrespect for that venerable site!".

I remember. I was there :)

tangent: should downvotes be based on "how dare you?" sentiments?

Well that's a very subjective statement. So easy to criticize when there's no objective standard. I think a more useful observation would be that most of the designs are dominated by one or more completely non-interactive visual elements. Function follows form, which nowadays annoys users more than simple lack of artistry or visual appeal. I'll say that from my own subjective POV, most of the designs are interesting or beautiful in some way; in the sense of a painting if not a website.

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