Today, Paul Irish released mothereffingtextshadow.com. In typical Paul Irish fashion, it is a remarkable delight. Mr. Irish was kind enough to leave a comment in the markup:

all <3 goes to david desandro, who popularized this and many other amazing things.

The <3 is felt, bro.

But if anyone deserves <3, it would be David Cole. I first found the technique employed in his work for Sleepover’s Chunky Tumblr theme. Mr. Cole’s original implementation generated a triple offset border, an incredible innovation. While numerous others have picked up on my derivatives, I rarely see anyone use text-shadow the way he first did.