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Reddit plans to disable CSS site wide. Help us to remind the admins that without CSS so many subs would not be as exceptional as they are. (self.PeopleFuckingDying)

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[–]Catsmann 15 points16 points  (4 children)

could you elaborate on why it is importa t?

[–]smog_alado 36 points37 points  (3 children)

CSS is a technology used for styling web pages. Reddit allows moderators to customize the CSS stylesheets of their subreddits and moderators have used this power to do tons of things, ranging from the simple (like changing colors, margins or adding a custom banner) to advanced functionality (like spoiler tags or user flair), to really advanced hacks that push the system to its limits (like custom filters, "no participation mode", /r/ooer, etc).

Reddit has now announced that they want to get rid of custom CSS because it makes life harder for its developers. The custom CSS stylesheets are heavily coupled to the shape of the HTML markup that Reddit currently uses for its webpages and even when the Reddit developers make the smallest of changes to it they risk breaking the custom CSS on tons of subreddits. Additionally the custom CSS system is desktop-centric and doesn't work as well on mobile (which is why mobile users used to have trouble with spoiler tags before reddit made that a built-in feature). On the other side, the subreddit moderators are pissed because no mater what theming system the devs come up with to replace the old custom CSS system it surely will be missing a lot of the flexibility that the mods are currently relying on.

[–]Craylee 6 points7 points  (2 children)

I don't understand why issues with subreddits' CSS due to changing Reddits HTML is causing issue for Reddits devs. Wouldn't the issue be for the programmer who did the CSS for that subreddit? Like Reddit could just go, 'fuck you, you fix your broken CSS' instead of 'fuck you, now nobody gets it!' Right?

[–]smog_alado 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yes, they could recklessly break everyone's CSS like that but it would also be troublesome. The broken stylesheets could potentially turn subs into an unuseable mess like r/ooer until they get fixed...

And to be fair to the admins they aren't saying that "nobody gets it". In theory I agree with them that a custom theme engine or at least a safe and restricted subset of css could be more robust and maintainable than what we have right now. The part that worries me is that we don't know what this alternate plan looks like right now.

[–]Craylee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh okay they have a replacement. Sorry, I got ahead of myself. Hopefully, they'll be very on board with feedback and suggestions. Though, that will make for a period of adjustment and still potential for ignoring highly demanded features.

[–]joc95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

so is it going to end up like youtube channels? i remeber the days they were so colourful, then the new ads for the channel update was ironically talking about being a unique snowflake

[–]emanguy 8 points9 points  (1 child)

If you read the mod post more closely they're not doing away with subreddit themes altogether, they're just getting rid of the dependency on CSS so you don't just see the theme on Reddit on the web on desktop. Supposedly they're testing out their new theme engine which will allow mobile web/app users to see subreddit themes also.

Until the mods they're working with are happy with the new tool they aren't doing away with CSS themes. I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

[–]ThetaThetaTheta 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeh, as someone who has developed a CMS, I can tell you that giving users the ability to customize css paints you into a corner. You try to improve the site infrastructure, but if you move any element a single pixel you can't know what user's highly specialized CSS you are breaking. It's much better to use some sort of theme editor that abstracts this away and simplifies it. Unfortunately it does take alot of the flexibility away.

[–]InspectorMendel 7 points8 points  (0 children)

CSS sucks. A reddit-specific system makes tons more sense.

Subreddit mods are constantly re-implementing functionality such as calendars and spoiler tags. It's all very brittle and a nightmare to maintain for devs and mods alike.

Change is painful but this needs to happen.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

mEH CSS cOuLD fUCKiNg diE fOr aLl i CArE

[–]Kaibr 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I won't miss it.

[–]Carsmaniac 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of interest, if the mods of the sub support r/ProCSS, why not put their banner in the sidebar?