Ben Evans Proves CSS Can Do Everything Javascript Can Do

If you ever feel that JavaScript is complicated, you are not alone; quite a few web designers hesitate to make the transition to full development because they believe achieving JS expertise is too much of a challenge. While it is true that JS is a must in today's highly interactive and functional web development environment, coders who are proficient in CSS are pulling off amazing feats without a single line of JS.

To see just how far CSS can be taken, head over to Codepen and look for the portfolio of Ben Evans, who goes by the handle @ivorjetski. Evans is a serious CSS artist from the United Kingdom, and he has previously made waves with artistic projects such as landscapes, photo-realistic portraits, still life "paintings," and simple animations. His most impressive CSS pieces qualify as works of art, and this is probably the reason Evans felt compelled to create an online gallery to showcase his CSS prowess.

At first sight, Evans' gallery feels like a neat in-browser implementation of a 3D framework such as WebGL of the Unity engine. You can move around the gallery in first-person mode thanks to the 3D perspective, and everything runs as smooth as a PlayStation video game. Once you realize that this entire project has been coded in CSS and without a single line of JavaScript, you will be mesmerized.

With modern browsers, broadband connections, and advanced hardware, it seems as if there is nothing that CSS cannot handle. Photo-realistic CSS images have been around for a few years, and we have also seen a couple of pure CSS games, but they are mostly on the simple side. The art gallery coded by Evans is nothing short of amazing, and it even features cool interactions such as a fully functional light switch.

When you look at the source code of Evans' gallery, you get to see not only its complexity but also the absolute labor of love it required. As amazing as this is, it is not very practical, but it should inspire anyone who wants to get into development to learn JavaScript; the reason being is that it would be far easier to code projects such as this one using JS. For more information click here https://codepen.io/ivorjetski/pen/gOPOvdB.