While the basics of CSS are indeed easy to learn, the art of CSS mastery continues to remain a challenge for many. That is why I continue to be hired by various web dev firms simply to do the initial coding of the various template pages for new sites that they develop, even though they have their own in-house front-end developers. If the layout is complex and their desire and appreciation for beautiful and semantic code is high then they still find a need for and a value in my CSS skills.

As for the “real world value” of these designs, I would offer that Zen Garden is still a great place to showcase a design that you have done that might not see the light of day otherwise. This is certainly the case for me with Saturated Glow. The client for whom it was originally designed was kind enough to let me submit it to the Garden, but I’m sure she wouldn’t have been as accommodating about me using it for other paying clients. As a web designer always looking for new clients, the ability to showcase your design skills to a large audience is certainly of value!

I believe also that the CSS Zen Garden itself, and therefore all designs within it, is still of value in general because there are still people discovering it for the first time every day! As web designers we feel like it’s very old news, but for the large company employee tasked with finding a web designer for a new project and coming across the Garden for the first time, it still offers a wonderful introduction to the world of modern web dev practices, as well as a bevy of designers to discover.

Having designs in the CSS Zen Garden has been the best thing I’ve ever done for my career, and I’m certainly not ashamed to admit it! As long as it continues to drive traffic to my site and bring potential clients to my inbox then I’d say it’s real-world value to at least me is pretty darn high. ;~)

I am visiting this site from CSS Zen Garden. I’m sure I’ve been here before, and I think I may even have written to you once.

I too have a design on Zen Garden, but unlike you I am no longer overly bothered about Dave Shea’s little baby. Times have changed. People have learned that CSS is actually quite easy to learn, and that most Zen Garden templates (mine especially) have little or no real world value.

That said, good luck with your new design. And does it really take a year now to get a yes or no? With me, it took about 3 months.

But then, I’m one of those people busily ruining one of your glorious designs. ;-)

http://ourdoings.com/2008-02-12

I’ve been kicking around various designs for my own site for quite a while now, but as soon as I sit down and start on something it becomes painfully obvious that my current talents are skewed toward programming. I really need to figure out how to get things in my mind to translate into Photoshop…

Best of luck with the entry, and good work!