The article argues that CSS deserves recognition as a serious programming language rather than being dismissed as merely decorative or “easy”. Its growing complexity and capabilities—including recreating Doom and building database engines—show why this gatekeeping is outdated, while the undervaluing of frontend work can affect pay, hiring and web accessibility.

CSS has expanded from roughly 50 properties in 1996 to at least 500 today, with increasingly sophisticated features. The author also links its lower status to gendered stereotypes about styling and “feminine” work, describing how frontend developers, particularly women, can face assumptions that they are less technically capable.