Why devs needn't fear CSS with the King of CSS himself Kevin Powell [Podcast #154]

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. Take our year-end freeCodeCamp podcast listener survey real quick: https://forms.gle/2M9NW776723uSdDT7 Support for this podcast comes from a grant from Wix Studio. Wix Studio provides developers tools to rapidly build websites with everything out-of-the-box, then extend, replace, and break boundaries with code. Learn more at https://wixstudio.com. Support also comes from the 11,043 kind folks who support freeCodeCamp through a monthly donation. Join these kind folks and help our mission by going to https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate 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 Chapters 0:00:00 Teaser 0:01:03 Musical Intro – Bubble Bobble 0:02:04 Interview Starts 0:04:57 Accessibility in Web Design 0:08:14 Understanding Technical Debt 0:11:01 The Designer-Developer Dynamic 0:14:01 Evolution of CSS: From Tables to Flexbox and Grid 0:20:03 Responsive Design: Adapting to Multiple Devices 0:24:10 The Impact of Mobile Apps on Web Development 0:27:53 Kevin Powell's Journey in CSS 0:32:26 From Hobby to Career: The Journey Begins 0:34:50 Teaching and Transitioning to YouTube 0:41:59 The Growth of a YouTube Channel 0:54:34 Taking the Leap: Leaving Teaching for Content Creation 1:00:11 Learning Through Skateboarding: Overcoming Tutorial Hell 1:03:42 Building Balance in Learning 1:08:47 The Journey of Learning New Skills 1:14:40 Navigating Cognitive Overload 1:20:29 The Complexity of CSS 1:29:59 Teaching Insights from Classroom Experience 1:33:26 The Importance of Design Systems in UI Development 1:36:09 Why Learn CSS and Front-End Design Concepts? 1:40:55 The Evolution and Governance of CSS 1:47:53 Translating Graphic Design Skills to Web Development 1:52:19 The Relevance of CSS in Mobile App Development 1:55:41 The Value of Learning in Public 1:59:06 Navigating Influence and Responsibility in Teaching ❤️ Support for this channel comes from our friends at Scrimba – the coding platform that's reinvented interactive learning: https://scrimba.com/freecodecamp