Almost all so called “CSS galleries” would be better labeled “digital art galleries”.
There are exceptions, but for the most part these sites seem to be nothing more than a collection of slow loading, non-accessible, barely usable sites made by fantastic digital artists who unfortunately have no idea how to build a web site.
Don’t get me wrong, I mean no disrespect, and there are some instances where it’s more than appropriate to adorn every margin, button and headline with fancy ornaments and sparkly rollover effects.
Generally speaking though, these trinkets are not only superfluous, but end up being distractions that devalue the content on your site, further complicates it’s learning curve, and conceals whatever it is that your visitors came for in the first place.
Most importantly, if you’re using your site to sell something, directly or otherwise, chances are that these trinkets are costing you money.
The majority of these “CSS galleries” are encouraging ‘look at me, look at how good I am’ web designs whose only suitable application is portfolio sites. Unfortunately for the weekend web designer, and all those poor people that end up using their sites, this type of design is a hammer and every new website becomes a nail.
I’m holding all “CSS galleries” directly responsible.
Quit calling yourselves “CSS galleries” and start accepting desktop wallpaper submissions, or offer a little bit of variety. There are thousands of well built, accessible, valid, good looking, incredibly usable and functional web sites out there that just never get listed because they lack a few pretty pictures.
Oh, and don’t take this post as me being bitter about not being listed on any “CSS galleries”. It happens, although not as often as it would if I had a big fat photographic backdrop distracting my visitors from the carefully crafted entries that I’ll arrogantly assume people came to read.