The Front-End Community is Still Alive and Beautiful

I thought about dropping an addendum into my last post to say just how overwhelmed I am, in the best possible way, by the way all of you in the front-end community have shown up to show support, both for me and for CSS-Tricks. I started to do that but then felt a new post is more appropriate. You all deserve more than a tacked-on “thanks” because all the love that’s rolled in the past few days is proof of something I’ve hoped hasn’t been lost for some time:

The front-end community is still a wonderful place filled with the most supportive, caring, hard-working, and creative people anywhere.

I think the front-end community gets a lot of flack for negativity merely for how it’s married to tech. But here’s a very small sampling of the wonderful ways you have shown up this week:

• Kevin scrambled to make and share a video letting his million-plus audience know what’s going on and how to help not just me, but other publications and bloggers as well.
• Declan took a bold stand by connecting dots between CSS-Tricks and recent DigitalOcean dealings.
• Eric added constructive thoughts about the future.
• Andy reminded us about the value and ongoing need of technical learning publications.
• Several of you hit me up offering me work or to help me find it.
• A crap ton of you messaged me kind, thoughtful, and supportive words on Bluesky, Mastodon, Slack, Discord, etc., etc., etc.

Allow me to indulge myself to share why this community means so much to me.

I started building websites in, I think, 2005. It was a hobby. I view-sourced everything and felt my way around. I hit a lot of hurdles, tell you what. That HTML and CSS is hard to grok at first. You can figure it out on your own, but it honestly scared me a bit, especially as a recent grad in economics with no experience writing code.

I had the help of two friends who knew a lot more about what they were doing. One helped me find basic HTML templates that were already hooked up with CSS, which really helped me see how everything was wired together. The other friend helped me understand the intersection of code and design, showing me how color, type, and layout come together to create feelings and experiences.

I used that help to make a website promoting my freelance copywriting. And I used that experience to make my first WordPress theme. And I used that experience to make a website for my wedding. And I used that experience to get a real job as a web designer. And I used that… you get it.

It was right around that time I found and fell in love with CSS-Tricks. Chris has a knack for writing in a way that connects with you on a personal level. Still does. But what really impressed me was the budding community that grew around CSS-Tricks. I met a lot of great people there.

This is my long-winded way of saying that a community of designers and developers like this has always been the most welcoming place. I mean, it welcomed a stinkin’ economics nerd like me and nurtured me into a full-blown career. What the heck? That doesn’t really happen anywhere else outside of most trades. There’s always been this sorta punk rock ethos and vibe around here that is anarchic and beautiful at the same time.

Good gosh, I’ve lost myself and written way more than I had in my head going into this. What I’m trying to say is “thank you” so much — for welcoming me, teaching me, nurturing me, and supporting me through every bit of my 20 years designing, building, writing, and teaching for the web. I can never pay back this large and scrappy band of misfits for what you’ve given me, though I do try my absolute best.

I’ll say that I’m still very hopeful that things will work out with CSS-Tricks. The point of this post is not an update on that, but I will say that there has been a little bit of movement with all your help. People are listening. You really know how to show up and make the right kind of noise that remind people that we are together in this.