A retired programmer showed me his CSS art at a coffee shop in Asheville

Last month I was waiting for my latte at a little place near Pack Square and this older gentleman sitting next to me had his laptop open with the most detailed landscape I have ever seen. Mountains, trees, a little stream, all with shadows and everything. I asked him what program he used and he laughed and said it was just CSS in a text editor. He spent 20 minutes showing me how he built the whole scene using only divs and gradients and box shadows. I felt like my simple little geometric shapes were child's play compared to his work. He told me he started doing it after his wife passed away two years ago as a way to keep his mind busy. Has anyone else met someone who turned CSS art into something this personal and detailed?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_ramirez4d ago

okay but "break everything down into layers" is exactly the kind of advice that makes me want to throw my laptop out the window lol. i get that it works for some people but for me that level of planning takes all the fun out of it. i just want to mess around and see what happens not make a whole production out of a sunset.

bailey.sandra4d ago

Just dive into it headfirst and treat it like learning a new instrument. Start by copying a real photograph or painting line for line using only divs. That's what got me past the simple shapes stage. Break everything down into layers like foreground, midground, background and focus on one gradient at a time. Box shadows are the real secret weapon for adding depth without using any images. I spent three months doing that myself before I felt like I had any control over what I was making. The trick is not to worry about it looking perfect right away just get the bones right first.