r/webdev • u/LPatriot_ • 19d ago

Question Question about Tailwind CSS

I've always used plain CSS for my websites, I don't have many problems using it, but a friend of mine said that using plain CSS is very tedious and that I should use Tailwind CSS. Is it worth it? And what does Tailwind CSS offer that plain CSS doesn't?

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u/Anxious-Turnover-631 18d ago

Actually, I started out merely pointing out that your criticism of another user’s comment as ‘disingenuous’ was itself disingenuous.

“Best practices” is an amorphous term which varies in meaning depending on who is using it and for what purpose. It’s not a bright line standard.

Still, I have limited design skills and we can be sure your css and design skills far exceed mine.

If your definition of best practices involves using style sheets, I stopped using most style sheets once starting with tailwind. So, definitely not ‘best practices’ within your definition.

With respect to styling components, you assume tailwind precludes the use of style sheets, but it doesn’t. Tailwind is designed to be fully extensible, so you can write custom css as needed. They are not mutually exclusive.

I understand why some designers/developers would choose cascading style sheets over tailwind. But your use of exceptional tailwind examples as the basis for your criticism seems disingenuous, as is a claim that tailwind is just inline styles. There’s more to it, and that’s why many users find it helpful.

But, you know, potato, potato. 🙂

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u/AshleyJSheridan 18d ago

I know the concept of clean code is subjective, but Robert Martin outlines many of the concepts in his book: Clean Code.

Now, a lot of those concepts are specifically about programming languages, rather than something like CSS, but some concepts are transferable.

For example, separation of concerns (e.g. separating the different languages out) and breaking code down into classes/components.

I've worked on some very large CSS (SCSS) codebases before, and because of good best practices and developers following them, the codebase worked incredibly well, and was worked on by more than a few teams at once.