
#154 Why developers needn't fear CSS – with the King of CSS himself Kevin Powell
The freeCodeCamp Podcast
The Essential Role of CSS and Accessibility in Web Development
This chapter underscores the critical importance of mastering CSS in 2025, especially in the context of user experience and accessibility. It discusses how neglecting accessibility can lead to technical debt and advocates for the integration of inclusive design from the beginning of the development process. Additionally, the chapter emphasizes the collaboration between designers and developers to ensure effective implementation of design principles and standards.
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On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Kevin Powell. He's a designer, a software engineer, and an expert in CSS. He's runs a CSS-focused YouTube channel with nearly a million subscribers. There's nothing sensational there – he literally just teaches people CSS.
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CORRECTION: I (Quincy) say during the interview that the Uber found a way to access microphones on iOS without users' knowledge. There have been documented cases of malware doing this (like Pegasus) but Uber didn't do this. They did do a lot of other shady things, like continue collecting data even after you deleted their app – but mic spying was not one of them. Yes, early Uber was an ethical tire fire. But it's important to get facts right here.
We talk about:
- Why you should still learn CSS in 2025 - How teaching concepts improves your own understanding of them - How learning to skateboard helped Kevin escape Tutorial Hell - Massive improvements coming to CSS
Links we talk about during our conversation:
- Kevin's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/kevinpowell
- Original Space Jam website Kevin mentions: https://www.spacejam.com/1996/
- The article that coined the term Responsive Design: https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/
- Kevin's freeCodeCamp article on how learning skateboarding helped him out of tutorial hell: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-learning-to-skateboard-helped-me-find-a-way-out-of-tutorial-hell/
- Kevin's freeCodeCamp course on building and deploying a portfolio page: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-portfolio-website-and-deploy-to-digital-ocean/
- Playable Minesweeper in CSS that Quincy mentions: https://codepen.io/bali_balo/pen/BLJONZ
- Acknowledged mistakes that are permanently coded into CSS: https://wiki.csswg.org/ideas/mistakes
- Talk on why is CSS so weird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUtMbJw8iA