Why you should consider using TailwindCSS?

#web development #css

Why you should consider using TailwindCSS? What are the Pro's and Con's?

In today's fast-paced world of frontend web technologies, there is always room for a new tool to aid web developers. While big companies rush to surpass each other with their powerful tools, we developers sometimes might find ourselves uncertain about which technology to adopt.

At that point, you or your development team might hesitate to use certain technologies. In this article, I will try to clarify whether you need TailwindCSS or not. We will examine its advantages and disadvantages step by step. I know some of you might say, "Tailwind is not a hot topic anymore," but believe me, it is still widely used among web developers and remains in high demand. Before we move on, I assume that you are already a web developer with some competitive skills or an enthusiastic newcomer to the field.

I'll try to keep this article as beginner-friendly as possible. So, if you already know what TailwindCSS is and how it works, please feel free to skip the next couple of paragraphs.

First, let's talk about what TailwindCSS is? TailwindCSS is a utility-first CSS framework. So, what does "utility-first" mean? In regular CSS, we define specific rules to apply to HTML elements. By "utilities," we mean small, predefined sets of helper rules that can be used directly in your HTML to style elements quickly and efficiently.

If you don't know any CSS or have no idea what CSS does, you should definitely start with the basics of CSS (along with HTML, of course). If you already know the foundations of CSS, then learning TailwindCSS might not be too difficult for you. On the other hand, if you are a proficient CSS user, learning Tailwind will be a piece of cake and might even feel like a breeze ;)

Now, let's discuss why Tailwind is so popular and what problems it solves.

If you are already an experienced Tailwind user, you can prototype web pages or components at lightning speed. It not only saves you from writing the same CSS rules repeatedly but also enables you to create great-looking websites quickly and efficiently.

So, isn't there anything negative to say about Tailwind? Well, there is one significant drawback.

One of the main downsides of Tailwind is that it can make your source code a bit messy. By "a bit messy," I don't mean that using Tailwind will turn your code into a complex, unreadable pile of trash. However, under certain circumstances, your class attributes might become crowded with utility classes. As a result, if you don't mind having your components filled with utility classes that might look a bit crowded, then you're good to go!

Now lets check the advantages and disadvantages of using TailwindCSS one by one;

Advantages of using TailwindCSS

  1. Speedy Prototyping: It allows us to quickly turn designs into webpages.
  2. Customizability: It is highly customizable. We can easily adjust colors, fonts and other style properties.
  3. Responsive Friendly: Tailwind CSS offers built-in responsive classes.
  4. Easy to Learn: Tailwind CSS is easy to learn and use. It has a comprehensive documentation and large community of users.
  5. Performance: It's built-in purging feature allows us to remove unused CSS classes from our project.

Disadvantages of using TailwindCSS

  1. Complex HTML: Long and complex class names in our HTML tags makes our code harder to read.
  2. Distinct Mindset: Fully leveraging Tailwind CSS requires adapting to a different mindset compared to traditional CSS. Learning all the utility classes can take time.
  3. Separation of Concerns: Tailwind moves the styling rules into the HTML rather than in CSS files, which might conflict with the traditional practice of separating HTML (Structure Layer) from CSS (Presentation Layer).