Bytes issue #222, published September 14, 2023, turned its recap of the 2023 State of CSS survey into a mock mayoral campaign. Its central message was that developers welcomed reusable CSS and newer layout tools, while browser compatibility remained a major frustration. These are findings as Bytes described them in 2023—not current adoption figures or a report on browser support in 2026.
What was the “Mayor of CSS Town” issue?
“I’m running for Mayor of CSS Town” was a comic premise for Bytes’ September 14, 2023 issue #222, not a real campaign or policy platform. The newsletter framed its survey recap as “State of the ~~Union~~ Cascade” and used the imagined candidacy to make a point about CSS developers’ priorities and pain points.
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The recap drew on the 2023 State of CSS survey. The survey’s introduction described CSS as going through “a period of unprecedented progress,” credited Chen Hui Jing with helping design that year’s survey, and said browser vendors use survey data as part of Interop to help prioritize feature work. Sacha Greif was credited beneath the introduction. The survey gives useful context for why developers’ views matter to browser work, but the material cited here does not independently establish every detail in Bytes’ summary or the full survey methodology. State of CSS 2023
What did Bytes say developers valued?
Custom Properties led usage and awareness
Bytes said Custom Properties—often called CSS variables—ranked first for both “highest usage” and “highest awareness” among CSS features for the fourth consecutive year. The issue joked that variables could prevent developers from accumulating many slightly different spellings of lightgrey. Both the ranking and the fourth-year claim are the newsletter’s characterization of survey results, not a fresh measure of CSS use today.
#1 Best Overall
gap usage rose in the recap’s year-to-year figures
Bytes reported that gap use rose from 55% of respondents in 2021 to 90% in 2023. Those figures describe respondents in the respective survey years as reported by the newsletter; they should not be read as percentages of all developers or as current usage statistics.
| Survey year | Respondents reported as using gap |
Attribution |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55% | Bytes’ recap of State of CSS respondents |
| 2023 | 90% | Bytes’ recap of State of CSS respondents |
What did the issue say was frustrating about CSS?
Browser compatibility amid rapid change
Bytes called lack of browser compatibility the survey’s leading pain point. That captures the tension at the heart of the recap: CSS features were progressing quickly, but developers still had to contend with uneven support across browsers. The newsletter’s summary does not provide a current compatibility matrix, so it cannot answer whether a particular feature works in a given browser today.
Rank #2
Its closing joke promised universal browser support for the :has() selector and CSS Nesting if the narrator became mayor, followed by a promise to fill drinking fountains with soda. The deliberately impossible campaign pledge is satire, not a guarantee or a technical forecast.
CSS-in-JS was described as trending down
The issue said CSS-in-JS was trending down and named styled-components, Emotion, and Stitches as examples. It described Stitches as no longer maintained at the time and presented Panda CSS as an attempted comeback, emphasizing performance, type safety, and compatibility with React Server Components. These are statements from September 2023, not current maintenance advice or a recommendation. Anyone choosing a CSS-in-JS library now should check its current documentation and maintenance status, then assess performance, type safety, and fit with the project’s rendering approach.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did Bytes say about CSS learning?
Bytes described CSS-Tricks as a leading CSS learning resource. That was the newsletter’s editorial judgment; its recap did not reproduce a measured ranking or the methodology for one. The issue therefore supports the conclusion that the publication regarded CSS-Tricks highly, not a quantified claim that it ranked first.
Quick Recap
How should readers interpret the recap now?
- It is a dated snapshot of how Bytes summarized the 2023 State of CSS survey, published on September 14, 2023.
- The reported
gappercentages belong to the 2021 and 2023 respondent groups, not to all developers or a current survey. - The compatibility complaint describes a pain point in the newsletter’s 2023 account; it does not establish present-day support for
:has(), CSS Nesting, or any other feature. - The survey site says browser vendors use survey data as one input to Interop feature prioritization, but the recap alone does not show how any particular response led to a browser change.
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