The CSS Zen Garden is a World Wide Web development resource "built to demonstrate what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design."
The website was inspired by a CSS-related contest from HotBot, by web developer Chris Casciano's experiment called "Daily CSS Fun", as well as the Web Standards Project's efforts to get CSS adopted more widely by designers.
"[4] The noted web standards advocate Jeffrey Zeldman observes: "Hundreds of designers have made their mark -- and sometimes their reputations -- by creating Zen Garden layouts, and tens of thousands all over the world have learned to love CSS because of it.
In February 2005, The Zen of CSS Design (Peachpit Press) was published by CSS Zen Garden creator Dave Shea and web designer Molly Holzschlag.
However, on May 7, 2013, for the site's tenth anniversary, Shea opened up submissions again, focusing on HTML5, CSS3 and current design principles.