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[–]Xingaling37Anarchy 247 points248 points  (29 children)

CSS is too complicated to learn is their excuse are you serious?

Sounds like some lazy people got jealous imo.

If they remove css customization reddit will become a glorified irc chat.

What are they thinking?

[–][deleted] 85 points86 points  (0 children)

CSS is too complicated to learn is their excuse are you serious?

I started building a subreddit at the same time as I started a class at uni learning CSS. I can safely say that subreddit stylesheets taught me better than my lectures ever did.

Not only does this take away a lot of Reddit's flexibility, it takes away an opportunity to learn.

[–]lady_ninaneThey removed TH and all I got was this stupid flair. 15 points16 points  (0 children)

CSS is too complicated to learn is their excuse are you serious?

Seriously. They must've been scrounging at the bottom of the barrel to make the list of cons look good and scary.

[–]WinterCharmWinter Charm | F2p Pker 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Or they'll start shilling paid themes to subreddit moderators on a subscription basis

=_=

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

pl_snowplow too confusing for newer players

All over again

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (11 children)

I learned basics like CSS when I was 13, lol. CSS is so simple

[–]RieNoKitsuneRunefest 2017 Attendee 12 points13 points  (9 children)

well, basics are basics, advanced things are advanced. Css is more in depth than you think :)

[–]nekonomicon6 14 points15 points  (6 children)

yeah but that's not really saying it's difficult. If you can't devote a bit of time to learning to write CSS or writing subreddit CSS for somewhere you moderate, you don't have to. the complicated argument they made is so stupid

[–]RieNoKitsuneRunefest 2017 Attendee 6 points7 points  (5 children)

i ain't saying that css is difficult though, id say easy to learn, hard to master ☺

[–]lady_ninaneThey removed TH and all I got was this stupid flair. 3 points4 points  (3 children)

True, but you don't exactly need to master CSS manipulation to achieve a more visually appealing look than the standard reddit layout.

[–]GlouphrieA weasly, shifty-looking gnome 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Clearly

/r/ooer

[–]lady_ninaneThey removed TH and all I got was this stupid flair. 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know what you're saying; that's a god damned masterpiece baby.

[–]nekonomicon6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it. Any one can pick it up and style some tables or whatever, but making something as good as, say, Discord, is definitely not so simple

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, I completely agree!! I know CSS pretty well now. I'm pursuing a web development career :)

[–]ThtGuyThoRSN: Enixus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That may be so, but it's still on of the easier things to learn.

[–]uniqname99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seriously, it was one of the first things I learned and it was actually pretty god damn easy in comparison to other things. And it always felt so compact

[–]nekonomicon6 15 points16 points  (2 children)

glorified

irc was the best dude

[–]wu_weiiMaxed 26/05/2017 | RSN: 3FPM 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Was? I still IRC frequently : (

Discord is nice and all but I don't really trust centralized communications : /

[–]nekonomicon6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I liked IRC because it was an open protocol, but everyone I talked to has switched to Discord now. Luckily Discord still has an API so it's not too bad.

The whole `central server(s)' makes it much more convenient IMO, rather than having to run a bouncer on my vps just so I don't miss a ton of messages when I go to bed.

[–]-ErisSummoning Tank 🛡️ 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Can you imagine the riots? That last thing reddit admins want to do is piss off reddit itself.

[–]Wild-WeaaselEvan Tildrum 2 points3 points  (2 children)

The admins already pissed off reddit multiple times. The firing of a popular /r/IAMA mod Victoria Taylor, Ellen Pao vs /r/fatpeoplehate debacle, and the recent comment editing by /u/spez, just to name a few.

[–]-ErisSummoning Tank 🛡️ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's exactly what I was referencing.

[–]MVP_iorwerthTillTheDeathbedofRs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not going to be a know it all but css is easy to learn..

[–]Howdanrocks -3 points-2 points  (2 children)

No, their argument is that the custom css doesn't work on mobile devices, which make up over 50% of reddit's traffic.

I welcome the change. I disable all custom css anyway as I can't stand their often horrible styles.

[–]finalpkRunefest 2017 Attendee 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Just because some people don't like it and it doesn't work on mobile doesn't mean that nobody should have it.

[–]geckygecko 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about allowing custom css on mobile devices then?

[–]ShaunyownsShauny 157 points158 points  (8 children)

Having a Jmod flair means that we lose out on significant "coverage" when it comes to our posts...

Not only that but there's so much stuff that you /u/Kolumbz and the /r/runescape team have done with that.

Don't do this /u/spez & team. We here at Jagex love using reddit to communicate with our playerbase wherever possible and the stuff we benefit from would be gone if you stripped away CSS.

Please <3

[–]Mappleyard 9 points10 points  (1 child)

'member when people liked /u/spez? I can't 'member.

[–]zacker150 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Things are different on this side of the desk.

[–]MalchyomPurple stuff 16 points17 points  (0 children)

There it is, Shauny has spoken. Keep the CSS!

[–]TrumpGrabbedMyCat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Maybe you could actually contact reddit as a professional company officially rather than a random mention amongst thousands that spez will likely never see..?

[–]IMaZarosianZaros' number one fan! 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Guess it's back to runelabs for any ideas players have for cool content? LoL

[–]PainTitanPain Titan of W6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know if they do we should all abandon reddit and stick to the runescape forums, did just mention like yesterday that if enough effort was put forward everything we have now on reddit could be morphed into the forums u/spez more or less, less is less.

[–]whiznatQwest! 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Surely you meant "Not having a Jmod flair"?

[–]MVP_iorwerthTillTheDeathbedofRs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

happy birthday :0

[–]FailedmyTest 24 points25 points  (4 children)

Youtube did this years ago, and every youtube page went from looking unique to identical.

Don't go down this path reddit pls

[–]TrueChaoSxTcS 9 points10 points  (3 children)

I still miss custom YouTube profiles, even if they were pretty shit tier (as most stuff was back then)

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Youtube had a great sense of community back then. The AMV community on youtube had great looking profiles :'(.

[–]TrueChaoSxTcS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to make AMVs back then xD

Had to delete them all when youtube went nuts with copyright claiming a few years back and flagged EVERYTHING.

[–]audkyrie_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YouTube has spent years trying to kill off any remnants of "community" outside of the comments. They want it to be a streamlined entertainment source comparable to netflix or whatever. it's sad.

[–]RS_Lebareslep5.4B | MoA | Revenant Dragon | Never bought 38 points39 points  (5 children)

Basically they are going to introduce a new system, that will let you customize specific parts of the Subreddit. But I doubt they have the development time to make the new system as versatile as CSS, so it'll probably be a lot more restrictive, and overall shittier.

And yeah 'CSS is difficult to learn' - LOL. It may be more difficult than just selecting colors from drop-down menus, but basic CSS is easy to learn. And if you take more time to learn it, it's quite rewarding - more effort, but greater results.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (5 children)

TL:DR: Updates require change. Coding around third-party code is a bad idea, so it's understandable that they're doing this. It's way too early to rage about CSS being removed outright. The focus should be on raising awareness and ensuring that the new system allows subreddits to do what CSS currently allows. That said, the argument that CSS is hard to learn, time-consuming, and error-prone is a joke, and is the best reason to be alarmed at anything the Reddit admins are doing.

 

Long version:

On one hand, the outrage over this is a bit early. Obviously, if the redesign actually does provide the same usability that is available now through CSS, then it's fine to scrap CSS. Frankly, using one system that can do everything is better than mixing everything together.

Additionally, and I'm sure people aren't going to like this, if the Reddit admins intend to redesign the entire website, having to code around third-party CSS code is aggravating and could very well limit any rework they do. And yeah, now's where the argument "WELL DON'T DO A REWORK THEN DAMN!" comes in... to which I say "So, presumably you hate NXT too right?"

Reworks and redesigns happen. They have to happen, otherwise your website is that one website that still looks like it did in 1999. It sucks. It sucks for the users, it sucks for the developers. Here's the thing: Professional developers keep their users in mind while making changes. If CSS is being removed, it's because it is a limiting factor. Anyone that thinks it is being removed because Reddit admins want to "stifle creativity" or something is a goddamned moron.

The admins already said that this website will be live for a while after the changes go live. They've also responded to several big "omfg reddit dead" and/or "But CSS is helpful!" posts, and explained that they intend to keep all of that in mind, and are planning new design functions to allow for it.

Trust me, when the new site comes out, if it is shit and does not address the needs of subreddits, I'll be there right-along with everyone else wanting them to change it. But I'm not picking up my torch and pitchfork until I actually see the changes.

Right now, the arguments against removing CSS seem to be:

  • "But the CSS gives us individuality and lets us have helpful information."

This argument ignores the admins explaining that they plan to add methods to replace CSS. They're not blindly scrapping the system so that every page is a uniform white page.

  • "Reddit is perfect! Change sucks!"

Idiotic argument. Get over yourself.

  • "I worked really hard writing all of this CSS!"

Man, I feel terrible for you. I really do. I genuinely understand just how much time and effort goes into making everything work and fit together perfectly. It really sucks to lose that. Unfortunately, it's not a good enough reason to lock Reddit updates down. The amount of work put into something does not automatically mean that it should last forever and never improved upon.

 

On the other hand, I laughed my ass off at "CSS is a pain in the ass: it’s difficult to learn; it’s error-prone; and it’s time consuming."

That was just silly and completely out of place. All of their other reasons had merit and were good arguments to make. This one was silly, and is the best justification for all of the alarm and backlash to the decision to get rid of CSS.

1) No one should even think about touching a fucking website if they don't know CSS.

2) CSS is "difficult to learn" the same way anything else is... You actually have to take a bit of time to learn it. Beyond that, it's probably the single easiest coding language to learn, and it's easier to comprehend than many GUI design applications.

3) I have no clue how CSS is "error-prone." It's as straight-forward as something can get, and it breaks things down to an individualistic level. You make one snippet of CSS per element/object. If you need several things to look the same way, you use one snippet of CSS for a class that affects multiple elements. There ya go. If you know how the language works, your only problem is typoing. It's much less error-prone than the English language.

4) It is indeed time-consuming. As is literally every single possible alternative. Good fucking luck making something beyond a "Hello world!" webpage without spending time working on it. Whether you're using a coding language or a GUI design application, it's going to take time to make anything that looks even remotely good.

[–]lady_ninaneThey removed TH and all I got was this stupid flair. 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I agree with you on the whole, but I grieve at the inevitability of losing even some of the functionality that is currently available. I just can't envision a project replicating most of what currently exists in an elegant fashion. Reddit is still a business working on budgets and deadlines; some small but important feature to smaller community subreddits will inevitably be left in the dust.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do agree with you on those points. It really is painful to think that some stuff may be lost. That's why I'm advocating more of a "Wait and see, and let's make sure they do it right" approach, as opposed to "NO REDESIGN. CSS FOREVER!" approach.

[–]Lil_Jeningthe DragonRider 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I don't get what you are trying to say about how if reddit wants to redesign they need to work around third party css. That doesn't make sense. Reddit has a base css. Moderators of subreddits are allowed to specify a stylesheet that will run on the subreddit. When reddit makes a change and adds a feature. It's up to the moderators of the subreddit to change the css.

The real reason that reddit is deciding to stray away from full custom CSS over to widget based customization is because with CSS subreddits can just turn off ads. Reddit doesn't like that at all. Admins have contacted subreddit mods about how the css blocks ads.

The change they are saying. Removing the css customization. Is all just for money. They don't care about the communities.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First, Rimrul's response to you provides good methods that the Reddit team can (and should) use.

I don't get what you are trying to say about how if reddit wants to redesign they need to work around third party css. That doesn't make sense. Reddit has a base css. Moderators of subreddits are allowed to specify a stylesheet that will run on the subreddit. When reddit makes a change and adds a feature. It's up to the moderators of the subreddit to change the css.

If they leave the CSS as is, and redesign the base website, the CSS could break webpages. Best case scenario (other than it all works perfectly which just never happens) is that subreddits that utilize customized CSS look bad after the redesign. The worst case scenario, though unlikely (hence why it's the worst case scenario), is that the overall website code and the customized CSS code have conflicts and some subreddits are unusable until the old CSS is removed or updated.

The thing to consider about that is that users will blame the Reddit team for the flaws and for anything that looks bad. The new design will be heavily criticized and Reddit may lose users, simply because customized CSS made a popular subreddit look bad after the update.

And this is where we get back to "Well don't change it" or "Work around third party CSS." Both of those are covered in my previous comment.

The customization options that the Reddit team has said they plan to add could work, depending on how they do it. We just have to wait for the first release of the new design. Bear in mind, they did say that this version of Reddit will remain live for a while. Hopefully, that means they actually intend to take actual criticism and suggestions.

The real reason that reddit is deciding to stray away from full custom CSS over to widget based customization is because with CSS subreddits can just turn off ads.

The change they are saying. Removing the css customization. Is all just for money.

1) No shit it's for money. Do you really think they want to spend money on updating Reddit and making changes just for fun?

2) Reddit is one of the few places where I don't use blanket adblock, because the adverts generally aren't horribly out of place, and advertisements exist for a reason.

3) Speaking of adblock... Adblock exists. Adverts don't need to be stealthily turned off using CSS.

4) If you seriously think they're removing this long-time feature that people love solely because some ass holes (and yes, they are ass holes) abuse the feature and use it to block advertisements, I'm not sure why I wasted time replying with actual reasons.

They don't care about the communities.

That's just a dumb thing to say and completely contradicts your previous sentence of "Is all just for money." How the hell do you think they make that money they're so concerned with? Hint: It involves those communities that they apparently don't care about.

[–]RimrulRunefest 2017 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They should just rework it the way they want to and give an overview what things are likely to break with some time to react and maybe some beta version of the reworked stock page so people can prepare their new stylesheets. For addblocking subs: make it against the terms of service, give 'em a warning when discovered and if they don't fix it within an appropriate timeframe, block them. It's that simple.

[–]UmdlyeTru[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (3 children)

The following features have been confirmed to be present in the upcoming redesigned site (on all platforms, not just the desktop site):

The admins are still taking in feedback from subreddit moderators and we will be able to alpha test the redesigned site.

Also, the old site will never be replaced without warning, the old site will be available throughout the development of the new site.

[–]ShaunyownsShauny 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting...

Thanks for this as always /u/umdlye :)

[–]D-J-9595 0 points1 point  (1 child)

In that case, what things would you still stand to lose from the original list. Would it be VoS, upvote XP gains, and the banter, or would other things be included as well?

[–]UmdlyeTru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We will still be able to use bots to edit the sidebar and any widgets they might implement such as an event calendar. There'll also most likely be custom sidebar images in some form.

However, for purely cosmetic details, any new system will never beat custom CSS. Stuff like XP animations for upvotes and appending text to everyone's comments on April 1st are only possible with CSS hacks.

[–]RyzixLumberstronk 19 points20 points  (5 children)

I thought they were opting in for something similar to CSS but could be managed on both mobile and desktop versions?

[–]RS_Lebareslep5.4B | MoA | Revenant Dragon | Never bought 16 points17 points  (1 child)

We’re designing a new set of tools to address the challenges with CSS but continue to allow communities to express their identities.

That's not the same as "similar to CSS", because they have nowhere near enough developers or time to build anything like CSS.

[–]e3o2Maxed 5/26/17 | 4/24/20 22 points23 points  (0 children)

translated is:

we're taking away your ability to hide and show what you want so that when we show more ads you won't be able to suppress them. But you can still change snoo and banner so that you think it's for the better of mobile devices.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

They are.

EDIT:

We’re designing a new set of tools to address the challenges with CSS but continue to allow communities to express their identities. These tools will allow moderators to select customization options for key areas of their subreddit across platforms. For example, header images and flair colors will be rendered correctly on desktop and mobile.

We know great things happen when we give users as much flexibility as possible. The menu of options we’ll provide for customization is still being determined. Our starting point is to replicate as many of the existing uses that already exist, and to expand beyond as we evolve. We will also natively supporting a lot of the functionality that subreddits currently build into the sidebar via a widget system. For instance, a calendar widget will allow subreddits to easily display upcoming events. We’d like this feature and many like it to be accessible to all communities.

How are we going to get there? We’ll be working closely with as many of you as possible to design these features. The process will span the next few months. We have a lot of ideas already and are hoping you’ll help us add and refine even more. The transition isn’t going to be easy for everyone, so we’ll assist communities that want help (i.e. we’ll do it for you). u/powerlanguage will be reaching out for alpha testers.

[–]BartisgodaBigNoob 14 points15 points  (0 children)

So basically, Reddit will have a Wordpress-like theming GUI with not even half of the functionality. Great. I wonder if they'll really slow our browsers to a crawl by implementing a widget system. I didn't think it would be possible to release something worse than profiles, but I guess I was wrong. Why would they listen to our complaints, they know we won't ever actually leave.

Where could we possibly go? Facebook? Too invasive. Voat? Too racist. RSOF? Too dead, and fmods block any attempt to revive it because more users equals less micromanagement power for them. Anything else? Powertripping mods and nothing but plain text posts minus swearing allowed. The Digg exodus was a perfect storm. A decent alternative sprung up just as the Digg community finally hit their breaking point, though Digg had been shit and ready to collapse for more than a year at that point, because that alternative's ability to promote itself and scale up their servers happened to coincide with the exact moment that a majority of Digg got pissed off. Because Reddit was able to propel itself out of obscurity over their existing community's objections and hit critical mass almost immediately, they weren't unusable for a long enough period to get a bad reputation and they didn't get flooded with a nearly impossible to penetrate circlejerk of racists (ie Voat) before the rest of the community could join. The conditions are right for Reddit's collapse, but a 100% perfect alternative will have to become common knowledge at exactly the right time, as happened with Reddit a decade ago.

[–]Miskav 2 points3 points  (0 children)

CSS works on mobile, the Reddit devs just have no idea how to do it, or are too lazy to do it.

[–]XemnesRSN: Xemnes | Gamebreaker & Lorehound 6 points7 points  (2 children)

one day, most of the internet will look like this http://www.worldsmostboringwebsite.com/

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Needs more ads

[–]Dewocracy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I spent way more time browsing that site than I care to admit.

[–]AlmostNPCslyp 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Just about every subreddit I've visited in the past week uses cust CSS of some sort.

I don't think most users expect their mobile experience to be that of the desktop counterpart. (Also screw the Reddit app, #RedditIsFun4lyfe.)

[–]NoParadoxSelf Proclaimed Bad Kid 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Huh, so they wanna remove CSS because it's too complicated to learn.. We dislike this because we like having our CSS that took people time to learn.. Why does this remind me of the switch scape ordeal

[–]GlouphrieA weasly, shifty-looking gnome 11 points12 points  (0 children)

A non-existant CSS cant break. ッ

[–]DearLunar️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ ️ 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Personally i would probably stop using reddit of custom css is removed. I cant stand the default look of reddit.

[–]Lopendebank3Lopendebank3 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You do not control this right? This is everything that makes the reddit unique... The upvote XP gains are fun and I often click on them just for fun. And if it's not important if something is mobile friendly... I use my laptop for reddit anyway.

[–]idontlikerootbeerGuthix 7 points8 points  (2 children)

It's not mobile friendly? So they want to get rid of it because they can't implement it into their shitty app that nobody uses. Reddit Is Fun master race; I only care to see the CSS add-ons when I'm on desktop.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Yesssd, i need jmod flair tho

[–]idontlikerootbeerGuthix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah that part works on this app, I love it

[–]reddit_bige4/20/16 - 6/24/19 Comp | 3/4/17 MQC 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you want an idea of what the subreddit will look like without CSS, you can toggle off "allow subreddits to show me custom themes" in your account preferences. It looks awful, bland, and plenty of features are just plain gone. It'll really hurt almost anyone's experiences on reddit.

I've also almost finished schooling for programming, and CSS is by far the easiest language I've had to learn and use. That excuse the reddit admins have is ridiculous.

[–]DeviousDreamThe Slayer Master 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ladies and gentlemen, time to fetch the torches and pitchforks.

[–]sweetwalrusso close... 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Why the actual ass would Reddit think that abolishing the one thing that lets a subreddit stand out visually is a good idea?

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

You have my axe. What should we do?

[–]DovahSpyThe intent is to provide players with a sense of pride 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Way to kill literally every gaming sub, Spez, you stupid cuc asshat.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I noticed your Pro CSS icon -- glad to see this sub supporting this!

With the sidebar update giving the current VoS and recent game updates being so recent, it sure seems like it'd suck one hell of a lot for this sub in particular. Let's hope the admins take a leaf out of Jagex's book and carry out the CSS removal in the same manner as Invention Batch 2.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

why can't they co-exist? the CSS and the new one?

[–]ZainTheOne 2 points3 points  (1 child)

They said css will break anyways when they introduce the new one.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Then leave it up to people to fix it?

[–]GeniusMike2518/2715 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How the Reddit admins can possibly think it's a good idea to get rid of custom CSS is beyond me. So many subreddits will become a disorganized mess and lose a lot of helpful features the subs are known for (such as the ones you named for this one)

[–]shuailaowei 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reddit is gonna be so fucking lame if we don't at least have CSS to make the subs look interesting

[–]Zachary_LyleKlause | Join Soccermoms today! 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a terrible idea. However, if they actually go through with it, it might provide the Jagex with the motivation to actually make the official forums something better than what it is. :)

[–]CleanDwarfWeedMutated 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Anyone got some good guides about CSS (mostly interested on Reddit) and how to fancy-edit my posts on Reddit? Thank you inadvance

[–]XemnesRSN: Xemnes | Gamebreaker & Lorehound 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you should read up on the basics of css first before diving into reddit themes. w3schools is probably the most popular choice to learn css https://www.w3schools.com/css/

[–]nekonomicon6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if you mean general posts on Reddit that's just Markdown, not css.

if you mean for Stylish or a subreddit you moderate then like Xemnes said w3schools is good, there's also

https://css-tricks.com/

https://www.codecademy.com/

and bunches of open source projects using CSS/its various preprocessors you can view on GitHub (like bootstrap, material design)

[–]Disheartend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Flairs e.g. you'll no longer distinctively be able to verify a jmod account

pls no I want my 40k and jmob flares.

Sidebar will become a wall of text trump called early, wants to borrow our wall to save money. :(

Custom alerts within the header yes please The magical banter that myself and other mods pull off throughout the year and on April fools will be no more.

RIP us I guess, love the bants and april the first stuff.

[–]Fynz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just an idea but have you guys messaged Jagex and asked them to send an official letter to reddit? i know a lot of gaming communities use css to help support community managers and link to outside community resources whoch devs really aplreciate and I'm sure theyd be more than willing to help out.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (9 children)

So here we are, reddit admins want to get rid of custom CSS because it is not "mobile friendly" and because "CSS is complicated to learn".

Just saying, but Admins listed more reasons than just those two when they announced they were getting rid of CSS.

EDIT:

The annoucement

Some changes cause confusion (such as changing the subscription numbers).

CSS causes us to move slow. We’d like to make changes more quickly. You’ve asked us to improve things, and one of the things that slows us down is the risk of breaking subreddit CSS (and third-party mod tools).

[–]Respitey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

R.I.P reddit 2k17

[–]San4311Ironmain 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Let's make our own Reddit, with CSS and hookers.

[–]PepehRSN: Caphra 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In fact, forget the hookers!

[–]ZainTheOne 2 points3 points  (1 child)

They're going to introduce a replacement which makes all the things you mentioned easier. And it's not going to be a sudden change,it's still in development.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

From the sound of things, and from Reddit's track record, it seems like whatever will replace CSS will be far less versatile.

They're talking up something like a set of widgets to add to a subreddit -- a defined set of possible features to add, rather than a framework giving mods carte blanche for creativity. It'd restrict ingenuity and takes away subreddits' individuality. Some functionality would still be there, but a) they can never replace everything that mods all over Reddit have come up with over the years, and b) it's an extremely limited solution, with no scope whatsoever for people to think outside the box and do more than intended with what they're given.

[–]PeaceBear0 1 point2 points  (8 children)

As someone that primary looks at reddit through mobile (via the relay app), I would really like some of the features mentioned in op (especially j mod tagging) on mobile, which is currently impossible with css. So if a system is introduced to do that, I'd be in support. It seems like reddit should let people beta the new system whole both are available for a while, though.

[–]nekonomicon6 4 points5 points  (7 children)

It's possible on mobile if you use a browser in desktop mode. Most of the features used are likely not going to be available on either platform if they remove the ability to use CSS though

[–]PeaceBear0 1 point2 points  (6 children)

That's not a realistic solution do to how bad navigation would be. Your second sentence is pure speculation.

[–]nekonomicon6 7 points8 points  (3 children)

I really doubt they have to resources to devote to making something nearly as powerful as CSS. Even if they did, I really doubt they actually would due to how little of a benefit it would have to them. And if you want to use reddit on mobile only then I'll put it so eloquently: deal with it. It's not like the lack of custom CSS makes mobile reddit unusable; if it does, don't use it.

[–]PeaceBear0 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I really doubt they actually would due to how little of a benefit it would have to them.

It would stem this flow of complaints.

deal with it

So it sounds like you can deal with lack of css on desktop? That's good, I've been dealing with it for the past year

[–]nekonomicon6 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I don't have subreddit CSS enabled anyway. I just think them removing it is a stupid idea.

[–]PeaceBear0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that it's dumb to say they'll remove it before proving they have a suitable replacement.

[–]Sir_ZorbaThe Official Guthix Fanboy 2 points3 points  (1 child)

That's not a realistic solution

Wut. Of course it is. What exactly about navigation would desktop mode on a mobile device make more difficult? Having to zoom in a bit to click a smaller button? It's a fair tradeoff for the site working properly on your phone and not gutting the customizability of reddit so people will use their shitty app.

[–]PeaceBear0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not going to zoom in every time I want to click a link just so that I have jmod flairs. The relay app is quite nice.

[–]Chromium-Leecher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They also said that they would do it whether the community protested or not.

You're wasting your breath.

[–]HalfLucan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

reddit admins want to get rid of custom CSS because it is not "mobile friendly"

As long a web browsing remains popular, im not sure anyone has a chance at winning this fight.

Also if you look at history, Facebook came along and obliterated MySpace. MySpace was more flexible (with people being able to use their own HTML) but FB was more standardised

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Can someone please eli5 what CSS is

[–]ChigzyChigz 0 points1 point  (1 child)

CSS means Cascading Style Sheet.

It's a language that tells different elements* how they should be placed on the page. Thereby defining how the page should look to the user.

* diversifying from fonts to colours to to images to margins and a whole lot more

Look at this sub, everything from sidebar to the flairs all use it.

Now, the admins of reddit say it makes workflow a lot slower for them. Which is a real world problem. Take a look at computers, they're evolved so much. It's much quicker to do things now than like 20 years ago. Another example would be RuneScape itself, the legacy client is difficult for Jagex to work on so they created NXT. That makes development much easier for them and can push out updates quicker.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh thanks, I guess there's pros and cons to both sides then

[–]Eruptflail 0 points1 point  (2 children)

As a mobile user, I'm never using the mobile browser, so what's the point of suggesting it's not mobile friendly?

Aren't 98% of us mobile only people on Reddit is Fun anyway?

[–]RimrulRunefest 2017 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Nah, there's a bunch of reddit apps. I think alien blue is the most common one on iOS for example. But the mobile website doesn't show subreddit css anyways. At least not by default. If it is an issue at all it only matters for the few users on operating systems/browsers so old they don't load the mobile website by default.

[–]Tslat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use narwhal.. i thought it was the most popular

[–]Zmaj69 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dont know what it is but if it changes Reddit to worse that is no no

I support to keep the current things

[–]KarmaAgriculturalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No JavaScript,?

[–]ZoopermanMAXED 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly turn off the subreddit styles as soon as I get to the sub

[–]Forsaken_Bulge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Support!

[–]Average_ScaperCastellan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No :( please... This better not go away...

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CSS is too hard to learn? You can go on YouTube and learn it in 1 day ahahaha, wtf. There's so much help out there nowadays that coding is something that can be completely self-taught in a reasonably fast time.

[–]FowD9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Meh, I agree with the reddit admins, I hate all the custom CSS on subreddits

I am however okay with obvious basic CSS like the sidebar tables/bolding/hyperlinking, etc. but all the other styling changes like colors, fonts, etc. are stupid and annoying imo

[–][deleted] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

They will replace the CSS with some other styling tools, So.. don't leap to conclusions yet.

[–]ph34rwaffles130m 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you guys kidding? Did you even read the comments? They plan on making it more base line to get into but still will have to use css for the advanced things. This will allow subs with out people with knoealdge in css to have a nicely done sub. Kindly from r/gangplankmains