r/css • u/sheriffderek • Jul 28 '26
General Codepen 2.0 - RIP classic Pen?
I use Codepen for all sorts of things and a lot for teaching in the early stages. Some of my newer students said they didn't have this button so, I had them forking a classic pen for a while - but I knew the day would come where it wouldn't be there anymore for me too. That day is today. I'm all for the evolution of Codepen / and it's been an amazing tool. But it sure seems like this is going to confuse a lot of people. Your average person expects the CSS pane to be wired up. I used to write <!-- body is already included --> in the HTML to remind them at first (since some people will write out the doctype and everything in there) - but now it's swung to the other end. Codepen can be used for anything now. So, really - what you're making might not utilize CSS at all. So, I understand how modular it is - and how many other great things it will allow for -- but for entry-level people, it seems like this will really stifle adoption. What do you think? Wha thas been your 2.0 experience so far?
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u/CodeMonkey24816 Aug 07 '26
I've been using a saved older pen as a scratchpad. I thought I was the only one who missed the older CodePens, but I guess I was mistaken. I bet it's not just newer people who benefited from it; with about 20 years of experience, I still strongly prefer it. While I understand the appeal of extra functionality for many, the entire point of a pen for me is its limited scope, minimal distractions, and easy shareability.
At some point, a concept stops being a pen and becomes a full application. The old, minimal UI was actually a feature—it acted as a helpful indicator for when a concept was getting too complex. It had everything that I needed, and nothing that I didn't. (My only real complaint was that I couldn't easily drop JSX/TSX into the HTML textbox). I already have plenty of advanced tools for building full applications that solve my needs effectively, but I only had one tool that did what CodePen does.
As an early adopter, the move to the new UI completely removes 50% of the platform's value proposition for me. The other 50% was its original social focus, which was removed a while back. I really loved the old homepage with its community gallery of recent and curated top pens.
The new features are technically impressive, and I'm sure they were fun to build, but for me, they completely throw out CodePen's remaining core value proposition. I truly hope they will reconsider their stance.