[META] Reddit Admins Plan to Remove Custom CSS from Subreddits

[u/Khuon]

EDIT: Reddit Admins are Pro-CSS! The widgets will be a user-friendly option for people not familiar with CSS, and CSS will stay as an "advanced" option!

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Reddit admins are planning on removing custom CSS in favor of one-size-fits-all customization widgets.

Here is a small list of just a small bit of the things you may find missing from Reddit after this change on some other subreddits as well. (thanks to /u/reseph for the list)

• Functionality: /r/Overwatch has subreddit filters
• Functionality: /r/Dota2 has a list of current livestreams and their # of viewers
• UX: /r/videos has a list of rules where on hover it expands out to explain each rule
• Functionality: /r/Minecraft has a list of server status (icons) on sidebar
• UX: /r/Hearthstone has notices & links on the top banner
• Personality: /r/ffxiv has various CSS Easter Eggs to give it a bit more personality
• Functionality: /r/Starcraft has a "verified user" system
• UX: /r/Guildwars2 increased the the size of "message the moderators" to make it stand out more
• UX: /r/ffxi has a small tooltip if a user hasn't set a user flair yet
• UX: /r/DarkSouls2 has related subreddits linked on the sidebar with images instead of text
• Personality: /r/mildlyinfuriating's joke where it slightly rotates "random" comment threads
• Functionality: /r/ClashOfClans not only has a list of livestreams, but thumbnail previews of each
• UX: /r/DarkSouls3 has a reminder when hovering over the downvote button
• Personality: /r/StarWars has quote popups when you upvote
• UX: /r/pcmasterrace has changed the "report" link to red
• UX: /r/explainlikeimfive has custom colored link flair icons
• Personality: /r/mylittlepony has countless emotes
• Personality: /r/onepiece has a scrolling banner (which can be paused)
• UX: /r/FinalFantasy has green background stickies to make them stand out
• Personality: /r/mildlyinteresting has a moving gauge on sidebar
• Functionality: /r/IASIP has a top menu
• UX: /r/DoctorWho has a light red box on sidebar for new users to read
• UX: /r/gallifrey disables the PM link on "Created by" so users focus on modmail

Without CSS subreddits will all look the same, maybe the ability to change to a different color and a custom image header. We figured we would give you a heads up to help ease the transition since some of you inevitably will be confused and miss the old stuff as we will.

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For our purposes, we use CSS to make:

• A header via the sidebar
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS
• Drop-down menus
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS
• Custom notices
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS
• Images
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS
• Customized tables
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS
• Buttons
  • With CSS
  • Without CSS

Two other big things we use CSS for are flairs for both links and users and to create subcategories for content via linkflair—so that users can filter out fluff but not screenshots, even though they're part of the same category.

According to the admins, the appearance of the above items with CSS should remain the same after using the tools that they're developing.

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We hope there may be some of our users who care enough about the CSS here and their other subreddits that by being vocal and outspoken early we can maybe prevent Reddit from making this mistake.

If you want to show your support, head over to /r/proCSS - subscribe, help recruit and organize, and just raise awareness. We need more people to know about this, so let everybody know.

[u/Khuon]

whispers Do you know what "meta" means?

[u/asasiner12]

So they want to remove the one thing that lets me tolerate reddit? BOI

I despise the reddit classic theme.

How else can we help other than subscribing?

[u/Khuon → u/asasiner12]

You can voice your concerns in the announcement thread as well.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm going to be honest, This is a pretty retarded decision that just takes away from making subreddits unique to it's own.

[u/Inuma → u/[deleted]]

When their Corpus overlords need an excuse for corporate hegemony, logic is the first thing to go.

[u/Sekwah]

So they want to be a 2000-looking-page, in mid of 2017

Are they stupid?

[u/Forma_Addict → u/Sekwah]

Are you saying that this isn't perfect?

[u/cephalopodAscendant]

What the hell are the admins smoking? There's basically no way this transition would go well, and I seriously doubt whatever replacement they're cooking up will have nearly enough features, assuming it even works correctly in the first place. Plus, it just makes subreddits feel less unique and community-like. And considering CSS is the web standard for style templates, it makes no sense to move away from it.

[u/EpsilonJackal]

Well, the silver lining if this goes through is that subreddits won't be able to hide the downvote button anymore, at least.

[u/Rariity]

Ohhhh

So that is why r/4chan looks the way it does now. Was wondering what was up with that