CSS Frustration!!!

[robstathem]

I don’t have a question per say more of a rant about my frustration with CSS. I can’t figure out why so many developers and designers say "CSS is easy." Are they joking? Who are they fooling? I have never been so frustrated in my life trying to create pure CSS based sites. I have this question to ponder….if CSS is "SO EASY" why are there are so many tutorials and help forums about CSS?

This is the most redundant program that I have ever worked with. I mean, how efficient is it to have to keep setting margin settings, and width settings, up, down, left, right, top, etc….Where is the grid system? As a visual designer, this program makes no sense. Trying to create beautiful CSS websites is like trying to learn Action Script 3.

And….why is it that everytime I try to learn a new CSS technique, I feel like I’m reading something straight from a physics book. Why do so many authors make CSS even more complicated. Why can’t CSS be explained in a simple manner such as:

1) First you do this
2) Second, do this
3) Third, do that

Instead, some authors only provide some of the details or they think that you are so advanced with CSS layout, that no explanation is needed. Absolutely rediculous!

My frustration has reached its max with CSS. I may just stick to Flash. I can understand why so many designers/developers have avoided CSS for so long. This program is a joke…What ever happened to making this an easy and understandable program. I have a suggestion for the creators of CSS…..NORMALIZATION!

[tcindie]

I can understand your frustration, as I have felt it many times myself…

If you’re continually having to reset margins and whatnot though you may be doing something a bit wrong. CSS by nature really shouldn’t be redundant, it’s cascading, so styles set for parent elements should filter down to the child elements, unless explicitly altered.

As with any programming language (which is the best way I can think of to classify css, even though it’s not really programming) there is generally a significant learning curve. But I think once you reach a certain point along the path to learning CSS, it just sort of clicks and makes sense and then it actually IS easy.

Don’t give up!

[chris]

I too can understand the frustration. I feel this same way at times, but just start out simple. If you jump into CSS trying to make complicated layouts, you’ll get overwhelmed and eventually give up. Keep watching this guys podcasts, he’s a genius. Eventually you will amaze yourself (I still haven’t, but I’m slowly getting there).

Another thing that can hold you back is your software. I am not great at hand coding and I’m sure I will get a bad rap about this, but I use Dreamweaver and find that it is much easier to do without having to be so precise. Good luck man, I know your frustrations but don’t give up. One day you will dazzle us all with an awesome layout.

[robstathem]

Thanks guys for the confidence booster! I will continue my quest with CSS layout although my hair may turn gray (haha, well hopefully not). I actually do have Dreamweaver so it’s quite convenient to use CSS.

Having built websites for 4 years, it just feels like I’m building a website for the very first time with pure CSS and it’s completely frustrating! The Dreamweaver CS3 CSS layouts are a great addition, but if I want to create a different kind of layout, then I need to create my own CSS template.

I’ve basically been building simple fixed width CSS layouts, but now I want to start creating liquid and hybrid layouts…herein lies more frustration! oh boy! :(

[tcindie]

You might do well to use some of the layouts from oswd.org as study tools.
This one in particular is a nice liquid layout.. pretty basic, the only thing that gets larger is the photo in the header, the rest just slides around as needed based on the size of your browser.

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