Creating CSS APIs without JavaScript With the datasette-css-properties plugin

Datasette, Simon Willison's open-source project, simplifies data exploration and publication. It essentially creates a web-based interface for easier data handling, enabling data querying and API creation.

While APIs usually return data in formats like JSON, a Datasette plugin, creatively developed by Willison, generates results as CSS custom properties. This allows for database query results to be displayed using only CSS and HTML, eliminating the need for JavaScript. As Willison's blog post highlights, this approach is unconventional but effective.

This method opens up interesting possibilities. Imagine a CDN-hosted CSS file containing dynamic data like the current date, time-sensitive information, or even more whimsical data such as the phase of the moon or daily specials.

Willison suggests using roadside attractions as data, prompting consideration of accessibility. While screen readers generally handle pseudo-elements well, the inability to select or search for this text remains a usability and accessibility concern. Therefore, this technique isn't suitable for production environments with unknown users.

A more dynamic example in Willison's blog post changes color based on the time of day. This suggests the potential for using custom properties with specific syntaxes, enhancing functionality.

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