5 ms·

IMO, Tailwind is just inline CSS with standardised defaults. I think it found its place because most React devs didn't want to bother with CSS

by vazark 7d ago

davidw 7d ago
That, plus it looks like Forth code grid dup 1.0 scale wind-x drop cols-4
eudamoniac 7d ago
It is used because UI component frameworks make vanilla CSS an awkward an unnecessary tool (the Cascading part). CSS makes sense as designed for styling a document, but not so much for styling atomic components. If we were designing the web and CSS from scratch around the React model, CSS would not be made to cascade, because that is totally unnecessary and usually leads to more issues than it solves. Apart from theme variables, in a component system there's no reason to have global CSS anywhere; you'd just style each component in isolation. So when in the React model you typically want no cascades at all, the library that is made for that gets popular. CSS modules are also a solution to the above, but, once you get rid of cascading, and you have one stylesheet per component, it is again unnecessary to have the one stylesheet in a different file from the one component. There's no benefit to splitting a component and its styles into two files; it just makes it more annoying to edit. So we move the styles essentially inline, with either Tailwind or CSS-in-JS.
- sassbadger 7d ago
  Thanks for this great explanation of your viewpoint. As an occasional frontend dev who really got into Tailwind, it was always hard for me to explain why I'm so much more productive in Tailwind than in writing CSS. This makes a lot of sense.
tiborsaas 7d ago
It found its place because working on CSS on any non-trivial scale with multiple engineers is painful. The best way to deal with CSS at scale is not to write CSS. And this comes from me who really likes CSS.
- ikrenji 7d ago
  CSS was prob great for early web but now it's just a pig with lipstick on
  - IslandRebel 7d ago
    CSS is one of my favourite things to do and still is. However, most engineers don't really understand it because most engineers don't really bother learning anything, and as a result you typically end up with a mess. If someone knows what they are doing and is allowed to make a decent UI library, you can have very clean, efficient styling without libs.
  - tiborsaas 7d ago
    It's the reverse, the 2026 CSS is one of the most advanced layout engine you can have.
andix 7d ago
It's inline CSS, but with all the limitations of inline styles removed. There is a lot of stuff that can't be done with inline styles, like media queries.
- _heimdall 7d ago
  It's inline styles, not online stylesheets. Though yes, inline styles are limited.
_heimdall 7d ago
It was/is inline styles, not inline CSS. It isn't a stylesheet at all, just a single style property.
wuhhh 7d ago
[dead]
cute_boi 7d ago
I think it is mostly backend dev who don't want to spend time in frontend stuff.
gherkinnn 7d ago
Oh why can't this idea die, it has been continuously debunked for 6 years now. So much so, any TW discussion will reiterate it.
- lucumo 7d ago
  > Oh why can't this idea die People like to feel superior to others, so dunking on people using a popular technology tickles some pleasure centers. Considering another viewpoint gets in the way of that, so other viewpoints are ignored.
- benoau 7d ago
  Why would it die? How would it die? The vast majority of Tailwind is literally just shorthand for individual CSS properties.
  - albedoa 7d ago
    Oh ya? Is that why the parent prefaced that obvious and indisputable fact with "IMO"?
  - gherkinnn 7d ago
    Because what makes it useful , like media queries, can't be put in style attributes. Frankly this whole discussion is just as silly as claiming flex has nothing over table layout.
    - zelphirkalt 7d ago
      Then again one should aim to not even need media queries and make things responsive intrinsically, breakpoint-free, continuously. A design where things jump at hard coded viewport widths is not actually a great design. So at least that part is not so amazing.
      - gherkinnn 7d ago
        >inb4 my 1:1 naive mapping of DB to screen works for me >inb4 the web should be reserved for text documents and hyperlinks and user styles rule and running anything close to applications on the web was a mistake >inb4 TUI

IMO, Tailwind is just inline CSS with standardised defaults. I think it found its place because most React devs didn't want to bother with CSS

by vazark 7d ago

IMO, Tailwind is just inline CSS with standardised defaults. I think it found its place because most React devs didn't want to bother with CSS

davidw 7d ago

That, plus it looks like Forth code grid dup 1.0 scale wind-x drop cols-4

eudamoniac 7d ago

It is used because UI component frameworks make vanilla CSS an awkward an unnecessary tool (the Cascading part). CSS makes sense as designed for styling a document, but not so much for styling atomic components. If we were designing the web and CSS from scratch around the React model, CSS would not be made to cascade, because that is totally unnecessary and usually leads to more issues than it solves. Apart from theme variables, in a component system there's no reason to have global CSS anywhere; you'd just style each component in isolation. So when in the React model you typically want no cascades at all, the library that is made for that gets popular. CSS modules are also a solution to the above, but, once you get rid of cascading, and you have one stylesheet per component, it is again unnecessary to have the one stylesheet in a different file from the one component. There's no benefit to splitting a component and its styles into two files; it just makes it more annoying to edit. So we move the styles essentially inline, with either Tailwind or CSS-in-JS.

sassbadger 7d ago
Thanks for this great explanation of your viewpoint. As an occasional frontend dev who really got into Tailwind, it was always hard for me to explain why I'm so much more productive in Tailwind than in writing CSS. This makes a lot of sense.

tiborsaas 7d ago

It found its place because working on CSS on any non-trivial scale with multiple engineers is painful. The best way to deal with CSS at scale is not to write CSS. And this comes from me who really likes CSS.

ikrenji 7d ago
CSS was prob great for early web but now it's just a pig with lipstick on
- IslandRebel 7d ago
  CSS is one of my favourite things to do and still is. However, most engineers don't really understand it because most engineers don't really bother learning anything, and as a result you typically end up with a mess. If someone knows what they are doing and is allowed to make a decent UI library, you can have very clean, efficient styling without libs.
- tiborsaas 7d ago
  It's the reverse, the 2026 CSS is one of the most advanced layout engine you can have.

andix 7d ago

It's inline CSS, but with all the limitations of inline styles removed. There is a lot of stuff that can't be done with inline styles, like media queries.

_heimdall 7d ago
It's inline styles, not online stylesheets. Though yes, inline styles are limited.

_heimdall 7d ago

It was/is inline styles, not inline CSS. It isn't a stylesheet at all, just a single style property.

wuhhh 7d ago

[dead]

cute_boi 7d ago

I think it is mostly backend dev who don't want to spend time in frontend stuff.

gherkinnn 7d ago

Oh why can't this idea die, it has been continuously debunked for 6 years now. So much so, any TW discussion will reiterate it.

lucumo 7d ago
> Oh why can't this idea die People like to feel superior to others, so dunking on people using a popular technology tickles some pleasure centers. Considering another viewpoint gets in the way of that, so other viewpoints are ignored.
benoau 7d ago
Why would it die? How would it die? The vast majority of Tailwind is literally just shorthand for individual CSS properties.
- albedoa 7d ago
  Oh ya? Is that why the parent prefaced that obvious and indisputable fact with "IMO"?
- gherkinnn 7d ago
  Because what makes it useful , like media queries, can't be put in style attributes. Frankly this whole discussion is just as silly as claiming flex has nothing over table layout.
  - zelphirkalt 7d ago
    Then again one should aim to not even need media queries and make things responsive intrinsically, breakpoint-free, continuously. A design where things jump at hard coded viewport widths is not actually a great design. So at least that part is not so amazing.
    - gherkinnn 7d ago
      >inb4 my 1:1 naive mapping of DB to screen works for me >inb4 the web should be reserved for text documents and hyperlinks and user styles rule and running anything close to applications on the web was a mistake >inb4 TUI