The CSS Zen Garden is a
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
* Photograph ...
resource "built to demonstrate what can be accomplished visually through
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...
-based design." It launched in May 2003.
Style sheets contributed by
graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
ers from around the world are used to change the visual presentation of a single
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
file, producing hundreds of different designs. Aside from reference to an external CSS file, the HTML markup itself never changes. All visual differences are the result of the CSS (and supporting imagery).
History
CSS Zen Garden brought five designs at launch.
The website was inspired by a CSS-related contest from
HotBot
HotBot was an American web search engine owned by Lycos. It was launched in May 1996 by ''Wired'' magazine. During the 1990s, it was one of the most popular search engines on the World Wide Web.
History
HotBot was launched in May 1996 by HotWir ...
, by web developer Chris Casciano's experiment called "Daily CSS Fun", as well as the
Web Standards Project
The Web Standards Project (WaSP) was a group of professional web developers dedicated to disseminating and encouraging the use of the web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, along with other groups and standards bodies.
Foun ...
's efforts to get CSS adopted more widely by designers. Considered "one of the best-known and most inspirational projects to come out of to the web standards movement," the site has succeeded at "raising aesthetic standards on the web and enriching web design." The noted web standards advocate
Jeffrey Zeldman
Jeffrey Zeldman is an American entrepreneur, web designer, author, podcaster and speaker on web design. He is the co-founder of A List Apart Magazine and the Web Standards Project. He also founded the design studios Happy Cog and studio.zeldman, ...
observes: "Hundreds of designers have made their mark -- and sometimes their reputations -- by creating Zen Garden layouts, and tens of thousands all over the world have learned to love CSS because of it."
CSS Zen Garden has been translated into several languages and inspired similar sites in other languages.
In February 2005, ''
The Zen of CSS Design'' (
Peachpit Press
Peachpit is a publisher of books focused on graphic design, web design, and development. Peachpit's parent company is Pearson Education, which owns additional educational media brands including Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall, and New Riders.
Fo ...
) was published by CSS Zen Garden creator
Dave Shea and web designer
Molly Holzschlag. The book is based on 36 designs featured at the Zen Garden site.
Active development of the site stopped in April 2008. However, on May 7, 2013, for the site's tenth anniversary, Shea opened up submissions again, focusing on
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
, CSS3 and current design principles.
There are currently 218 listed designs for the Zen Garden.
See also
*
Web standards
Web standards are the formal, non-proprietary standards and other technical specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web. In recent years, the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of s ...
*
A List Apart
''A List Apart'' is a webzine that explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.
History
''A List Apart'' began in 1997 as a mailing list for web designers, moderated and ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
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CSS Zen Garden 'All Designs' List– access to hundreds of archived designs submitted to the site
Mezzoblue– creator Dave Shea's blog on web design issues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Css Zen Garden
Computing websites
Cascading Style Sheets