Flatiron School
We created a custom CSS framework for Flatiron’s flagship product, Learn.co, and trained their engineering team on how to use it.
About The Client
Flatiron is the leader in programming education for “technically curious” individuals from all walks of life. Learn.co is their online campus, where students from around the world study and collaborate.
Challenge
Flatiron School was growing fast, and their engineering team was building lots of new features. The CSS stylesheet library was growing linearly with every new feature written, becoming more and more complex over time, and therefore harder to maintain and slower for users to load. They needed a reset to make their developers' lives easier while also improving performance for their students.
Solution
We created a new custom CSS framework for Learn.co, inspired by Nicole Sullivan’s OOCSS project. This philosophy allows for extensive code re-use, to the point where new pages can be created without writing any new CSS at all. Flatiron’s team can now build complex new features without touching the CSS, and their stylesheet loads up to 10x faster.
Result
- Reduced CSS resource load times by 10x
- Created and documented an expansion strategy to allow new features to be built without causing code bloat. Trained internal developers.
- Implemented a UI overhaul from client’s product design team simultaneous to optimization work