Can I use these designs for other things?
You may not use any of the graphics (image files: GIF, JPG, PNG, SVG, etc.) on the Zen Garden elsewhere without the original designer's written permission. There are no exceptions to this. The Zen Garden is about learning from other people's work, but not using it uncompensated. While the CSS files themselves are provided as-is under a very open Creative Commons license, we'd encourage you to learn from them and create your own designs instead of using them as a basis for your work. Go ahead and learn from the files, and grab bits and pieces of the CSS as you need them. But if you're using the bulk of the original CSS file and only changing a few colours and images, you're basically cloning the design. Please e-mail the designer for permission before doing this, and respect their wishes if they prefer that you don't.
How do I get in touch with a certain designer?
Follow the link to their own site, and use the contact options there. If the site no longer exists, we can’t get in touch with them either. No really. Twenty years is a long time on the internet.
Is the CSS Zen Garden fully accessible?
Probably not. The markup is as semantic as possible and WAI-ARIA roles have been added where appropriate. The “A11y” link on the main Zen Garden page even used to point to automated tests that checked the Zen Garden’s markup for AAA/Section 508 compliance. It passed, but these validators are no longer available.
But even with those measures, accessibility was not necessarily achieved. The WCAG guidelines contain multiple checkpoints which can not be tested automatically; they require a judgment call made by a human, not software. Many designs use techniques (hiding text from the browser, fonts sized with the px unit) which are by nature inaccessible, so the CSS of any particular design is as relevant as the markup when it comes to accessibility.
In some cases and with certain designs, the Zen Garden may come close to achieving AAA compliance. But we can’t in good conscience say that the Zen Garden is a fully accessible site, since we now need such a long disclaimer.
MOVE TO ABOUT Where did this idea come from?
Inspired in roughly equal parts by Chris Casciano’s Daily CSS Fun, a Wired web design contest in early 2003, and an idea stuck in my head forever to show how CSS could be used as effectively as table-based layouts for creating compelling web design, it all came together. More on the origins here.
MOVE TO ABOUT Who created it?
Dave Shea, a designer from Vancouver, Canada.
How do I view each design’s CSS?
There’s a convenient link under the ‘Resources’ header titled ‘View This Design’s CSS’.
How do I see the unstyled HTML file?
By following this link. Use your browser's view source function to see the full markup source, or download the source and open it in your favourite text editor.
How are you switching style sheets like that?
The Zen Garden uses a customized PHP script to allow for maximum flexibility. You may download that script in PHP or ASP formats and use it freely in your own work. Alternatively, there exists an excellent Javascript style switcher available from A List Apart that uses cookies to keep a selected style persistent.
What ever happened to that big huge list of designs?
It’s still around. The current design list only features the “official” designs, meaning those that are hosted at csszengarden.com itself. Previously every single design submitted was linked in the main archives, but now only official designs will be. The former list is still available for you to browse however, just be aware that that there are many broken links.
Is the Zen Garden accepting new submissions?
Probably not. Read more here.