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Please see my post at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17707380/exceptional-examples-of-complete-html-css-pages.

I would like some help here in basically getting an answer to the question or making an appropriate question that gets the answer I'm seeking. I don't agree that the question as intended actually violates the tenets of SO, but I can almost see how it could be misunderstood as such.

The need, in a nutshell, is: a highly "usable" reference for good current HTML/CSS, and I think exemplars are one of the most usable ways of accomplishing this. Hopefully this can be made into a valid SO question, since SO is the site that provides reliable answers to technical questions about computer software development.

The trouble with HTML/CSS is that people have a million ways of hacking pages together despite the very well-defined standards for how you should use the technologies. 99.99% of HTML/CSS that has been written and is currently "in the wild" is an atrociously bad approximation of how those technologies are supposed to be used, as are 99% of tutorials and other ways of learning how to make HTML/CSS.

That, coupled with the fact that the technologies keep getting improved, and that we are now at a point in history when the latest HTML/CSS technologies haven't had that much time for people to start using them properly, makes the need for good examples of their proper use quite high. Part of it is a matter of making an individual page "do the right thing" by using the technologies as they were intended, part of it is making the whole heterogenous web "do the right thing" by using the tech as it was intended, and part of it is just saving people from very badly reinventing lots of wheels.

Of course I know that tutorials and examples of "best practices" or "correct usage" for particular features of these technologies are a dime a dozen. Like the majority of people on SO, I have over ten years of experience making HTML/CSS. But, beside the fact that these tutorials typically contradict each other and are typically very badly written, they are by nature much more difficult to use than just studying a complete page of some particular type that is written using code and conventions (and comments?) rigorously verified by the expertise of crowds, such that if I want to know how to do Thing X, I can just look at the code and see how the best of the best do it and how the W3C probably intended it to be done.

Google and other large companies that make extensive use of HTML/CSS and other web technologies do post quite a lot of exemplary material, but none of it that I have seen is about complete pages. I guess what I'm in search of is sort of a definitive encyclopedia of elegantly-engineered web page patterns that can be copied, pasted, and studied, and which is always up-to-date with the best technologies currently available. And crucially, which prioritizes example over instruction.

Having an up-to-date library of exemplars not only is the best teacher of good habits for an individual, socially it would seem to support more efficient progress in the technology and use of the web in general, especially if we respect as we should the intelligence of "copy-and-pasters" who, being the majority and the diversity, are (and historically have been) most responsible for making the free open web as abundant as it is. A good web depends on highly-granular modularity, which in turn depends on highly tested, verified, and decoupled chunks of code.

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  • I'm not clear what this post has to do with the StackExchange network of sites. Are you asking for permission to ask this "request for exemplars" question, asking if it's OK to ask, asking for help in making it, or are you asking it here on MSO?
    – David Robinson
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:17
  • "Please see my post at stackoverflow.com/questions/17707380/…. I would like some help here in basically getting an answer to the question or making an appropriate question that gets the answer I'm seeking. I don't agree that the question as intended actually violates the tenets of SO, but I can almost see how it could be misunderstood as such."
    – themirror
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:19
  • Thanks to @ScottS, who seems to have a good sense of what the OP question is and why it's useful.
    – themirror
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:24
  • I guess what I'm in search of is sort of a definitive encyclopedia of elegantly-engineered web page patterns that can be copied, pasted, and studied that's a great idea and I would love to know about such a place, too, but it has nothing to do with Stack Overflow. List questions (asking for resources) are explicitly off-topic here I'm afraid.
    – Pekka
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:34
  • @Pekka, which is basically why I'm asking it on MSO. If it's a "great idea" and you "would love to know about such a place", then let's find it or make it. I have to admit I think it's ridiculous that nobody has said anything positive so far, as if it's a good use of one's time to play cop instead of helping to solve a problem, especially if it's one they personally recognize.
    – themirror
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:41
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    @themirror, I'm not sure MSO is suited to discussion about that topic, but anyway: you seem to be looking for a unique, definitive, always up-to-date source of information that would fulfill your needs. The Stack Exchange community, however, believes in another system based on numerous questions and answers, i.e. mass solving every interesting problem one at a time, even if the solutions overlap or contradict one another sometimes. So far, this system appears to work properly and to scale quite well.
    – Frédéric Hamidi
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:50
  • @FrédéricHamidi I understand that, and I understand how the question violates the letter of the SO law, but it also appears to make very good use of the real-world function of SO, namely, that if someone wants to find the answer to this (arguably very technical and easy-to-answer) question, then Google will provide her the answer if it is published as an SO question-and-answer, and secondly, that there is probably not a better chance than SO to quickly get good answers to the question in the first place.
    – themirror
    Jul 17, 2013 at 23:56
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    That would work only on the short term. Unique, definitive answers need frequent updating as technology marches on, and IMHO having new questions marching along scales and works better than eventually-in-our-copious-free-time answer updates. (Also, I did not receive the letter of the SO law when I joined, what does it say?)
    – Frédéric Hamidi
    Jul 18, 2013 at 0:02
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    What about the tag wiki HTML and CSS? That would be a good place to have such a list.
    – rurouniwallace
    Jul 18, 2013 at 0:48

2 Answers 2

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As many people have already said, that is not the type of question that is considered on-topic for Stack Overflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask
https://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic
https://stackoverflow.com/help/dont-ask

This does not mean that it is not a good question, and certainly does not mean that it won't help a lot of people. Just that it has been decided (by the community even) that it does not fit the mold for the type of questions that we want people to come to SO for.

On your various questions mere on meta about this, people have provided links to similar questions that have already been asked and answered on the topic. One of the biggest problems that we have on SO is that so many people ask a question without searching first. That is part of the reason that so many of them get closed (as duplicates).

For the specific question that you have linked to, I think that you could create an example that you think is close and post it to Code Review: https://codereview.stackexchange.com/ People there will review your code and offer advice for improving it. A couple of iterations and you should have something that you are very happy with and that other people can find.

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  • If you dissect the question being asked, you'll see exactly why it isn't a good question.
    – Makoto
    Jul 18, 2013 at 0:48
  • @Makoto: I agree that it isn't a good question here. In fact, my entire answer says that it isn't an appropriate question for SO and it offers a potential solution for the OP.
    – lnafziger
    Jul 18, 2013 at 0:53
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So...distilling my thoughts on the matter: this is not only extremely broad, but subject to change.

I won't disagree that finding good references of HTML5/CSS3 pages is hard to come by - working as a web developer myself - but the format and style of StackExchange makes your particular question out of scope.

Here's several reasons why.

What are some online communities

Honestly I could stop there as compelling reason enough for this being out of scope, but...

What are some online communities that are devoted specifically to collecting examples (or "themes"/templates for CMS software) of complete HTML pages that are exceptionally correct and elegant in their use of the latest standard HTML/CSS features and best-practices?

Let's consult the help center for this particular case:

  • There are equally valid answers - there isn't just one community that collects HTML5 samples, if there is one.

  • There's no actual problem to be solved - finding examples isn't a problem unto itself.

Notwithstanding the above, it's also quite subjective as to what's a good example of an HTML5 page. Even I have my reservations.

In other words, where can one find the cream-of-the-crop for exemplary HTML/CSS? They should be exemplars of correctly, conventionally, and idiomatically using all relevant semantic features of HTML, of seamless accessibility on a variety of devices including older browsers, of search engine optimization, and of minimalist, highly-readable code.

So yeah...remember that point about equally valid? There's a lot of sites out there that do very well for their HTML/CSS work, and I would consider them cream-of-the-crop...but that leads to answers being subjective, contested, and not beneficial for anyone actively looking for examples.

Furthermore, this metric will change. What's considered the new hotness today could become old and busted tomorrow. Any list can become invalid or irrelevant with a few updates to either the spec or frameworks leveraging the new approach.

Lastly:

I guess what I'm in search of is sort of a definitive encyclopedia of elegantly-engineered web page patterns that can be copied, pasted, and studied, and which is always up-to-date with the best technologies currently available. And crucially, which prioritizes example over instruction.

But it's not a question. I can appreciate and even respect the desire for examples - but you're not asking any sort of question! There's no answer to be had if you're looking for a wide-open resource, in all honesty.

Ultimately, I don't disagree with the closing of this question. StackExchange isn't geared to answer questions like that. Also, looking at examples is one thing, but implementing them in the real world and trying to adhere to the best standards is hard, especially if you have wonky business rules that must be taken into account (try supporting browsers as far back as IE4!).

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