Utility-first CSS

Juan Herrera

PARKSIDE.AT

This is my second time

"Shit"

You don't need utility-first CSS

You just need to know when utility-first CSS makes sense

Problem

At the enterprise level...

CSS

Us

CSS

HTML

CSS

<style>
  .greeting {
    text-align: center;
  }
</style>

<div class="greeting">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>
<style>
  .text-center {
    text-align: center;
  }
</style>

<div class="text-center">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

CSS

HTML

<style>
  .greeting {
    text-align: center;
    color: #fff123;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: end;
    bg-color: #929292;
    rounded: 4px;
    padding: 20px;
    margin: 4px;
    border: 1px solid;
    border-color: #fff123;
  }
</style>

<div class="greeting">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

CSS

HTML

<div class="text-center text-primary d-flex justify-content-end bg-secondary rounded p-5 m-2 border border-primary">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

HTML

CSS

"But that's no different than inline styles"

It's different

<style>
  .greeting {
    text-align: center;
    color: #fff123;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: end;
    bg-color: #929292;
    rounded: 4px;
    padding: 20px;
    margin: 4px;
    border: 1px solid;
    border-color: #fff123;
  }
</style>

<div class="greeting">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

CSS

HTML

<div class="text-center text-primary d-flex justify-content-end bg-secondary rounded p-5 m-2 border border-primary">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

HTML

CSS

<style>
  .greeting {
    text-align: center;
    color: var(--primary);
    display: flex;
    justify-content: end;
    bg-color: var(--secondary);
    rounded: var(--size-1);
    padding: var(--size-4);
    margin: var(--size-2);
    border: var(--size-0) solid;
    border-color: var(--primary);
  }
</style>

<div class="greeting">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

CSS

HTML

<div class="text-center text-primary d-flex justify-content-end bg-secondary rounded p-5 m-2 border border-primary">
  Hey Frontend RheinMain
</div>

HTML

CSS

✅ No random values

✅ No dependencies

✅ No side-effects

⚠️ No readability

✅ No names

🧠 Abstractions

.greeting

.text-center
.d-flex
.bg-primary
.bg-secondary
.rounded
.border

.border-primary

(Spectrum of abstraction)

DEMO

"What if I need to reuse the classes?"

Create a component

"What if I need to reuse the classes in the same file?"

Create a class

"But I have to remember those class names"

Everything has a learning curve

Pros

No surprises

No random values, no dependencies, no side-effects

Pros

No naming

<div class="greeting-container">
  <div class="greeting-wrapper">
    <div class="greeting-field">
      <div class="greeting">
        Hey Frontend RheinMain
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>	
</div>

Cons

Not readable

<div class="flex">
  <div class="flex-none w-48 relative">
    <img src="/classic-utility-jacket.jpg" alt="" class="absolute inset-0 w-full h-full object-cover" />
  </div>
  <form class="flex-auto p-6">
    <div class="flex flex-wrap">
      <h1 class="flex-auto text-xl font-semibold">
        Classic Utility Jacket
      </h1>
      <div class="text-xl font-semibold text-gray-500">
        $110.00
      </div>
      <div class="w-full flex-none text-sm font-medium text-gray-500 mt-2">
        In stock
      </div>
    </div>
    </div>
    <div class="flex space-x-3 mb-4 text-sm font-medium">
      <div class="flex-auto flex space-x-3">
        <button class="w-1/2 flex items-center justify-center rounded-md bg-black text-white" type="submit">Buy now</button>
        <button class="w-1/2 flex items-center justify-center rounded-md border border-gray-300" type="button">Add to bag</button>
      </div>
      <button class="flex-none flex items-center justify-center w-9 h-9 rounded-md text-gray-400 border border-gray-300" type="button" aria-label="like">
        <svg width="20" height="20" fill="currentColor">
          <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M3.172 5.172a4 4 0 015.656 0L10 6.343l1.172-1.171a4 4 0 115.656 5.656L10 17.657l-6.828-6.829a4 4 0 010-5.656z" />
        </svg>
      </button>
    </div>
    <p class="text-sm text-gray-500">
      Free shipping on all continental US orders.
    </p>
  </form>
</div>

Mixing variants, and themes, can end up in a really long permutation

Tailwind

Performant

Tailwind

Variants

Tailwind

Dark Mode

Cons

Build Tool

module.exports = {
    prefix: '',
    purge: {
      content: [
        './src/**/*.{html,ts}',
      ]
    },
    darkMode: 'media',
    theme: {
      extend: {},
    },
    variants: {
      extend: {},
    },
    plugins: [],
};

Cons

Not big corp behind

THANKS

@jdjuan

🙏🏻

Utility-first CSS

By Juan Herrera

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Utility-first CSS

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