Utility-first CSS
- What is it?
- Is it useful or nah?
- Tailwindcss
Utility First
Definition
<div class="chat-notification">
<div class="chat-notification-logo-wrapper">
<img class="chat-notification-logo" src="/img/logo.svg" alt="ChitChat Logo">
</div>
<div class="chat-notification-content">
<h4 class="chat-notification-title">ChitChat</h4>
<p class="chat-notification-message">You have a new message!</p>
</div>
</div>
<style>
.chat-notification {
display: flex;
max-width: 24rem;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 1.5rem;
border-radius: 0.5rem;
background-color: #fff;
box-shadow: 0 20px 25px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 10px 10px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04);
}
.chat-notification-logo-wrapper {
flex-shrink: 0;
}
.chat-notification-logo {
height: 3rem;
width: 3rem;
}
.chat-notification-content {
margin-left: 1.5rem;
padding-top: 0.25rem;
}
.chat-notification-title {
color: #1a202c;
font-size: 1.25rem;
line-height: 1.25;
}
.chat-notification-message {
color: #718096;
font-size: 1rem;
line-height: 1.5;
}
</style>
Traditional Approach
Disadvantages
- Doesn't Scale well
- Hardcoded common values
<div class="max-w-sm mx-auto flex p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-xl">
<div class="flex-shrink-0">
<img class="h-12 w-12" src="/img/logo.svg" alt="ChitChat Logo">
</div>
<div class="ml-6 pt-1">
<h4 class="text-xl text-gray-900 leading-tight">ChitChat</h4>
<p class="text-base text-gray-600 leading-normal">You have a new message!</p>
</div>
</div>Utility Approach
<div class="chat-notification">
<div class="chat-notification-logo-wrapper">
<img class="chat-notification-logo" src="/img/logo.svg" alt="ChitChat Logo">
</div>
<div class="chat-notification-content">
<h4 class="chat-notification-title">ChitChat</h4>
<p class="chat-notification-message">You have a new message!</p>
</div>
</div>
<style>
.chat-notification {
display: flex;
max-width: 24rem;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 1.5rem;
border-radius: 0.5rem;
background-color: #fff;
box-shadow: 0 20px 25px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 10px 10px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04);
}
.chat-notification-logo-wrapper {
flex-shrink: 0;
}
.chat-notification-logo {
height: 3rem;
width: 3rem;
}
.chat-notification-content {
margin-left: 1.5rem;
padding-top: 0.25rem;
}
.chat-notification-title {
color: #1a202c;
font-size: 1.25rem;
line-height: 1.25;
}
.chat-notification-message {
color: #718096;
font-size: 1rem;
line-height: 1.5;
}
</style>Advantages
- We don't need to invent class names very often
- CSS bundle stops growing (Smaller CSS bundle)
- Changes are safer
- Easier to understand and predict markup
- Driven by a Design System
- Can work alongside other css frameworks
Disadvantages
- Being overly dependent on components that rely on css frameworks like bootstrap would require implementing the proper styling.
- If project is built around a css Framework, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.
How's this different than bootstrap?
There are 8271 classes total in the entire default build.