Introducing: The Ultimate CSS Survey

As many of you are aware, CSS can be a controversial topic. There are many different syntax preferences, workflow options, and tools – and these kinds of things are often debated and discussed at length in books, blog posts, and forums.

As SitePoint’s HTML & CSS editor, I’m always interested in finding out the habits of front-end developers in the industry, especially in relation to CSS standards, tools, and preferred syntax. So with that in mind, I’ve put together a survey that I hope will become the industry’s definitive source for getting data and trends on a number of different items related to CSS development.

A 3-Part Survey

The survey was quite lengthy when I first drafted the questions, so we discussed it and decided it would be best to divide it up into three themed sections. This will make it easier to get more developers to fill it out and even if someone doesn’t fill out all three parts, we’ll still have some of their data.

The three parts are divided up as follows:

• Skills and Habits (25 questions)
• Tools and Workflow (27 questions)
• Standards and Learning (20 questions)

As you’ll probably agree, the 70+ questions in total would be far too long for a single survey, so it only makes sense to divide it up and allow everyone to fill it out at a more reasonable pace. I’m guessing each of the three parts will take about 10 minutes to fill out, give or take.

So without further ado, here it is: The Ultimate CSS Survey, Part 1 – Skills and Habits:

Want to Jump Ahead?

As mentioned, the survey embedded on this page is the first of three parts, which is the primary focus of this post. However, if you want to jump ahead and fill out the whole survey right away, you’re welcome to do so:

• The Ultimate CSS Survey: Part 2 – Tools and Workflow
• The Ultimate CSS Survey: Part 3 – Standards and Learning

If you don’t have time for that, don’t worry! We’ll publish separate posts in the next few weeks to feature the other parts as well.

We’re Open to Suggestions for Improvements!

As with anything that we expect to reach a wide audience, there will be room for improvements to the survey in the future. Some questions, for example, may not cover your specific circumstances. We also may have left out a significant answer for one or more questions. Or maybe there’s a specific area of CSS that you’d like explored more.

Whatever the case, we’re happy to have your feedback in the comments on this post, or in the general feedback question at the end of each survey. I’ll make a note of anything you have to say and we’ll determine if the survey can be improved in the future.

And of course, stay tuned to SitePoint for the next few months and we’ll share the results. While many things will likely not surprise us, I’m sure much of the data will provide us all with some new and interesting insights into our industry in relation to CSS development.