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Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

play.tailwindcss.com

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Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#21

Post by andiareso »

rco8786 wrote: post #16

Im sorry but I don’t understand how anyone can look at that and think it’s a good way to build UIs. I’m almost certainly in the wrong, considering how popular this library seems to be getting, but holy heck that looks like a tedious mess to work with. It’s like you have to learn every raw CSS selector, and then also learned how it’s represented in Tailwind, and then scatter that all over your markup.

I thought the same thing before requiring to use it on an open-source project I was collaborating on.... it changed my mind within a few hours. It is a God send.

Like others have said, the selector logic is top-notch and not having to build your own styles is great as they are pre-defined. You can always modify the styles any way you want and add your own custom ones too.

It looks "gross", but it's very practical. If you follow the best standards for component sizing, you should never really have much of a problem with the styling getting in the way.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#22

Post by christophilus »

madeofpalk wrote: post #17
rco8786 wrote: post #16

Im sorry but I don’t understand how anyone can look at that and think it’s a good way to build UIs. I’m almost certainly in the wrong, considering how popular this library seems to be getting, but holy heck that looks like a tedious mess to work with. It’s like you have to learn every raw CSS selector, and then also learned how it’s represented in Tailwind, and then scatter that all over your markup.

I'm with you. I'm pretty into neat experimental frontend + css stuff, and I'm baffled by how passionate Tailwind's fans are. It always feels like there's something I'm missing. In all fairness, I've never actually tried it.

> In all fairness, I've never actually tried it.

I was of your opinion until I tried it. Been using it for over a year on my current project, now.

I recently built a little prototype without using Tailwind, and man… I didn’t realize how big a quality of life improvement Tailwind is until I stopped using it. It’s really hard to imagine going back.

Edit: I’ve been building websites since 2000, and know CSS quite well, and hope to never write much CSS again.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#23

Post by LordHeini »

fleaaa wrote: post #9

Am I only one that feeling like code readability is a bit gross?

Yep but unfortunately the "classic" way of writing CSS does look equally awful after some time with multiple people on a larger project. The html is cleaner but the CSS becomes an awful mess.

The moment the first important! or inline stuff creeps into the page you are doomed. Utility frameworks feel a bit like giving up at the start and just rolling with it.

The major problem i see with these frameworks is that it is harder to maintain a consistent style across teams or even a few devs.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#24

Post by dgb23 »

fleaaa wrote: post #9

Am I only one that feeling like code readability is a bit gross?

You use refactoring/code structure techniques just like with regular code. Group stuff into components that belong together, use sensible names etc.

The cost of tailwind is that you do a bit of upfront work, when defining your design system/tokens in their config. The benefit is high default performance (css is less bloated) and high productivity because you tend not to switch to CSS/SCSS and get a natural DRYness from working with it.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#25

Post by mightybyte »

rco8786 wrote: post #16

Im sorry but I don’t understand how anyone can look at that and think it’s a good way to build UIs. I’m almost certainly in the wrong, considering how popular this library seems to be getting, but holy heck that looks like a tedious mess to work with. It’s like you have to learn every raw CSS selector, and then also learned how it’s represented in Tailwind, and then scatter that all over your markup.

Completely agree with you. I greatly prefer something like PicoCSS (https://picocss.com/) which tries to use plain HTML5 as much as possible.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#26

Post by samtimalsina »

I was in the camp "this-is-bullshit" until recently. It felt backwards. We recently switched to Tailwind for one of our projects, and Tailwind was a delight to use, especially with its VS Code extension. Code readability is surprisingly not that big of a deal because we use components. Of course if you are looking at the raw HTML in chrome tools, it can get disorienting. For folks that are worried about having to learn yet another "language", the learn curve is pretty short.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#27

Post by My90thaccount »

EudaimonBlue wrote: post #8
My90thaccount wrote: post #3

Quoted post unavailable.

"People who know these things think tailwind is a travesty" Sounds like people don't like changes to things that they are used to. Overall Tailwind really does make styling cleaner.

It makes your job easier at the expense of the quality of your product.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#28

Post by chrisshroba »

christophilus wrote: post #22
madeofpalk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you. I'm pretty into neat experimental frontend + css stuff, and I'm baffled by how passionate Tailwind's fans are. It always feels like there's something I'm missing. In all fairness, I've never actually tried it.

> In all fairness, I've never actually tried it. I was of your opinion until I tried it. Been using it for over a year on my current project, now. I recently built a little prototype without using Tailwind, and man… I didn’t realize how big a quality of life improvement Tailwind is until I stopped using it. It’s really hard to imagine going back. Edit: I’ve been building websites since 2000, and know CSS quite well,…

Agreed - they even include almost at the top of their homepage [1] a quote from the creator which includes: "If you can suppress the urge to retch long enough to give it a chance, I really think you’ll wonder how you ever worked with CSS any other way."

[1]: https://tailwindcss.com/

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#29

Post by rozenmd »

madeofpalk wrote: post #17
rco8786 wrote: post #16

Im sorry but I don’t understand how anyone can look at that and think it’s a good way to build UIs. I’m almost certainly in the wrong, considering how popular this library seems to be getting, but holy heck that looks like a tedious mess to work with. It’s like you have to learn every raw CSS selector, and then also learned how it’s represented in Tailwind, and then scatter that all over your markup.

I'm with you. I'm pretty into neat experimental frontend + css stuff, and I'm baffled by how passionate Tailwind's fans are. It always feels like there's something I'm missing. In all fairness, I've never actually tried it.

> In all fairness, I've never actually tried it.

That's what you're missing. Try it.

Re: Play with TailwindCSS in the Browser

#30

Post by yen223 »

andiareso wrote: post #21
rco8786 wrote: post #16

Im sorry but I don’t understand how anyone can look at that and think it’s a good way to build UIs. I’m almost certainly in the wrong, considering how popular this library seems to be getting, but holy heck that looks like a tedious mess to work with. It’s like you have to learn every raw CSS selector, and then also learned how it’s represented in Tailwind, and then scatter that all over your markup.

I thought the same thing before requiring to use it on an open-source project I was collaborating on.... it changed my mind within a few hours. It is a God send. Like others have said, the selector logic is top-notch and not having to build your own styles is great as they are pre-defined. You can always modify the styles any way you want and add your own custom ones too. It looks "gross", but it's very practical. If…

I've noticed this pattern with Tailwind specifically where people who look at it hate it, but people who tried it love it. I've tried it, and I like it.

This phenomenon encourages me to try something out before forming an opinion.

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