Beyond Coding Podcast avatar

Dexa/Beyond Coding Podcast

Learn more
Published Sep 7, 2022

Becoming Great at CSS | @KevinPowell - Kevin Powell | Beyond Coding Podcast #69

CSS expert Kevin Powell shares his journey to mastery, emphasizing the importance of fundamental understanding and collaboration between designers and developers. He discusses best practices, the role of frameworks like Tailwind and Bootstrap, and how teaching has enhanced his CSS skills, all while advocating for a mobile-first approach to streamline web development.
Episode Highlights
Beyond Coding Podcast logo

Topics covered

Popular Clips

Episode Highlights

  • Self-Taught

    shares his journey of becoming a CSS expert, largely through self-teaching. He began his career in a small agency, initially focusing on design work, but soon realized his passion for building websites. Kevin's transition from design to development was driven by the desire to create entire sites, not just designs, which led him to continuously update his skills in CSS over the years 1. Reflecting on his path, Kevin notes the challenges of being self-taught, especially before the advent of resources like Stack Overflow 1.

    It's definitely looking back, I'm like, oh, I should have realized this a long time ago.

    ---

    His teaching career began unexpectedly when he was offered a teaching position at a design school, which helped him refine his skills further 2.

       

    YouTube Journey

    Kevin's venture into YouTube was initially a hobby, born from a desire to explore CSS beyond the classroom. Teaching HTML and CSS at a design school sparked his interest in sharing knowledge, leading him to create content that would keep him engaged with the evolving web landscape 3. The process of teaching online, he found, deepened his understanding of CSS as he had to articulate concepts clearly, which also benefited his own learning 4.

    Teaching, it taught me more than anything else I've ever done.

    ---

    Kevin emphasizes that explaining concepts, whether through videos or writing, enhances one's grasp of the subject matter 4.

       

    Fundamentals

    Revisiting the fundamentals of CSS has been crucial for Kevin's growth as a developer. He stresses the importance of understanding core concepts like the box model and the cascade, which are often overlooked in favor of more advanced topics 5. Kevin believes that a strong foundation in CSS fundamentals makes it easier to adapt to new technologies and frameworks 5.

    Having that strong base is always really important.

    ---

    He observes that many learners today jump straight into frameworks like React or Tailwind, which can lead to gaps in fundamental knowledge 6.

Related Episodes