CSS-Tricks Is Independent Again: New Owner Shares Plans for the Site

CSS-Tricks is independent again. In an announcement dated October 26, 2026, the site says its new owner is someone who has worked on it for 12 years. He will run it with the help of a small team. Articles will continue, and plans include building the community and bringing back the newsletter. Membership and the store are already available, while a beginner course is still in development.

What’s changing under the new owner

Chris Coyier founded CSS-Tricks in 2007 and ran it until its sale to DigitalOcean in 2022. The site is now independently owned again. The new owner intends to make running it his main job, at least for a while. He won’t handle the day-to-day work alone: a small team is helping him.

One of his goals is to develop CSS-Tricks into a community for people at different stages of learning frontend development, rather than just a place to publish articles. He acknowledges that this will take time and work. For now, it’s a direction for the site, not a finished program with a schedule.

Articles will keep coming, though there may be fewer at first: the target is one or two posts most weeks. The site already has a backlog of content through the end of the year. The guest author pitch form is open again, but new submissions will have to wait for review. The owner plans to read pitches and respond when he can, though he won’t be able to accept them all.

He doesn’t plan to write most of the articles himself as a way to save money. He sees himself more as a publisher: someone who helps writers develop their own voice and gives them a platform. He may also work on the site, edit articles and work with sponsors. Judging by the announcement, contributions from a range of authors remain an important part of the editorial approach.

How the site plans to fund its work

An independent publication needs money. Advertising will remain one source of revenue: before the DigitalOcean acquisition, the site sold packages that included on-site placements, sponsored articles and newsletter sponsorships. The new owner expects to return to advertising but doesn’t want to rely on it alone.

Membership, which includes access to a private Discord community and additional perks, is already available, and the store is open. An HTML and CSS course for beginners is in development. The owner expects it to be one of the first new projects readers see. There are also plans to bring back the newsletter after a long break. The announcement gives no launch date for the course or return date for the newsletter.

The course is part of a broader goal: helping people who are just starting to learn frontend development. The owner believes knowing the fundamentals is especially important, but thinks the approach to teaching needs to change. He hasn’t yet explained in detail what the course will look like in practice. For now, then, it’s possible to assess the intention, not a finished educational product.

What this means for readers, writers and advertisers

Regular CSS-Tricks readers should keep the announced pace in mind: articles will continue, but there may be fewer of them at first. The owner also wants the site to remain a platform for different writers rather than turn it into his personal blog. It’s too early to tell from one announcement whether he can balance editorial work with bringing in revenue.

Writers can submit pitches through the form again, but no one is promising quick publication: there’s already enough content lined up through the end of the year, and the editorial team won’t be able to accept every pitch. Readers should also distinguish between ways to support the site that are available now and those still to come. Membership and the store are live. The course is still being developed, and the newsletter’s return remains a plan.

Support doesn’t necessarily mean paying. The owner suggests subscribing to the newsletter, sharing articles, opening them from an RSS app and paying attention to the site’s sponsors. He invites companies interested in advertising to get in touch, but the announcement includes no specific rates or placement terms. It isn’t enough to put together a campaign budget yet.

My take: independence is tested by the day-to-day work

I appreciate that the new owner talks not only about community, but also about money, advertising and the limits of what the editorial team can do. When I plan work for my own small store, I also find it easier to make decisions when I know what’s available now, what’s still being developed and what has no timeline yet. In this story, those distinctions are more useful than broad promises.

I wouldn’t judge the change by the word “independence” alone. What matters more to me is seeing how regularly articles appear, whether the newsletter returns and whether there’s room for new writers at a slower publishing pace. It’s the day-to-day work that will show readers what CSS-Tricks becomes under its new owner.

Sources

Where the news comes from. The text is a retelling in the author’s own words; the facts come from the source, the opinion is the author’s.

1. CSS-Tricks has a new owner css-tricks.com

About the author

Nare K.

Armenian food shop owner

I’m growing a small online shop in Yerevan and collect customer feedback myself. After running into stock issues, the first thing I ask about when choosing a website is how the catalog and synchronization work.

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