AboutCSSline
CSSline was founded in 2009 🚀 by@virlander, who was tired of existing CSS showcases likeCSS BeautyandStylegala😴.
These existing sites felt boring and stuck in the past, lacking the good taste that CSS design deserved.
There was a clear need for a platform that could show off beautiful web design with good taste and care ✨.
Working with@superfelipe, both developers atValve, they launched the first version of CSSline.
The technical setup used jQuery ⚡ for the frontend and CodeIgniter for the backend, hosted byMedia Temple,Slicehost,Rackspace☁️. This v1 going live in 2009 would be replaced with v2 in 2020!
Visual Identity 🎭
The logo was created by@meteufacik&@junnuvuorela, two talented designers 🧑🎨 who knew how to make a logo that would connect with creative people and still look good years later ⏰.
Thanks to our sales manager (@snellman), we successfully sold 🤑🤑🤑 a copy of our backend code to a mystery buyer. This sale has enabled us to continue running CSSline ad-free to this day.
Redesign Attempts 🚧
In 2012,@samnivaladesigned a new interface for CSSline that was going to completely change how CSSline looked. The design had a modern grid system, better typography, and improved user experience.
However, due to unexpected problems this version was never built 😢.
Version 2
After@superfelipemoved toReaktor,@virlanderintroduced CSSline to@tsuvinenwhen he joined Valve in 2016.
This was the start of a new era for CSSline, with fresh ideas and modern development practices 💡.
Together, they started building a completely new version using modern technologies 💻. The journey was long and full of changes: starting withAngular.js, then moving toAngular 4, trying outReact, exploringReact+Next.js, and finally settling on React+Razzle (Nodejs, Razzle, React, Redux, Styled-components + Firebase) 🎯. This phase went from first Angular version in 2016 to going finally live with new React+Razzle version in 2020.
Version 3 🔥
After@tsuvinenmoved toColumbia Roadin 2020,@virlanderkept the existing site running while carefully watching its performance and stability 👀.
Later, whenFirebasemade breaking changes that affected how the site worked and made it slower 🐌,@virlanderstarted building a new version usingAstrofor the frontend while keeping Firebase as the backend.
This development cycle, from April to May 2025, was the fastest redesign in CSSline's history ⚡🏆.
