The legacy of CSS-Tricks

August 5, 2022The Changelog

Episode 500!!! And it has been a journey! Nearly 13 years ago we started this podcast and as of today (this episode) we’ve officially shipped our 500th episode. As a companion to this episode, Jerod and Adam shipped a special Backstage episode where they reflect on 500 episodes. And…not only has it been a journey for us, but it’s also been a journey for our good friend Chris Coyier and CSS-Tricks — which he grew from his personal blog to a massively popular contributor driven model, complete with an editor-in-chief, a wide array of influential contributors, and advertisers to help fund the way. The news, of course, is that CSS-Tricks was recently acquired by DigitalOcean in March of 2022. We get into all the details of this deal, his journey, and the legacy of CSS-Tricks.

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Featuring:

Chris Coyier – Twitter, GitHub, Website
Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
Jerod Santo – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Welcome to 500!
(01:27) - Sponsor: Square
(02:50) - Hello, friends
(03:49) - Starting ShopTalk
(04:44) - People give up too early
(07:01) - Are interview podcasts played out?
(08:42) - Is 500 episodes social proof?
(13:51) - When Jerod discovered Chris
(20:13) - When Adam discovered Chris
(26:00) - Wufoo happened because of CSS-Tricks
(28:31) - How many years of CSS-Tricks?
(30:30) - Sponsor: FireHydrant
(32:08) - Was there ever burnout?
(38:27) - It was time to walk away
(39:52) - Chris holds grudges (forever)
(42:23) - Seeking counsel and valuing CSS-Tricks
(44:00) - The big announcement
(46:13) - Concerns about selling?
(51:21) - Where will Chris write now?
(52:27) - Transferring assets like @css on Twitter
(56:18) - Regrets and second-guessing
(1:03:47) - The next big thing at Codepen
(1:06:44) - Sponsor: Sentry
(1:07:32) - Sponsor: Retool
(1:08:36) - What is Codepen?
(1:15:34) - The revenue drivers of Codepen
(1:20:26) - Front-end and CSS Chris is excited about
(1:25:21) - Does :has make Chris rethink everything?
(1:26:17) - CSS-Tricks design history
(1:28:41) - The process to re-design CSS-Tricks

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