What if we stopped trying to control the web—and started working with it? In this talk, I return to A Dao of Web Design, an essay I wrote 25 years ago, to look again—this time through the lens of CSS. Drawing on a close reading of the Tao Te Ching, I explore how CSS isn’t broken or lacking—it’s just deeply misunderstood. CSS is not a language of force. It doesn’t tell the browser what to do. It suggests, it yields, it adapts. It’s declarative, contextual, and quietly powerful—more in tune with Taoist ideas of the dao–flow, humility, and non-action (wei wu wei) than we may realise. By understanding CSS through this lens, we see the cascade, inheritance, and layout not as problems to overcome, but as patterns to follow. We stop chasing pixel perfection and start designing systems that respond—gracefully, appropriately, and even beautifully—to the world around them. This isn’t a talk about new techniques. It’s about letting go. And perhaps seeing CSS—and the web—with new eyes. Slides: https://webdirections.org/talks/cssday25/ *** A session from CSS Day, the CSS conference. Each June in Amsterdam; see https://cssday.nl for more information. Conference announcements in your inbox? https://cssday.nl/subscribe