The Beautiful Ugliness of Tailwind

The Aesthetics of Tailwind Classes

Tailwind is often criticized for its numerous classes and their perceived ugliness and confusion when reading the code.
But if that’s the case, why are there so many big and small projects using it?

The Power Behind the “Ugliness”

The key lies in experience. Once you become accustomed to Tailwind’s utility-first approach and consistent class names, it becomes incredibly powerful. These ‘ready-to-use’ classes eliminate the need for writing custom CSS, streamline development, and ensure a consistent design across projects.

<div class="bg-white dark:bg-gray-800 shadow-md rounded-lg p-6 md:p-8 lg:p-10 mb-4">

In the example above, Tailwind classes are used to apply different styles to a div element. The classes bg-white and dark:bg-gray-800 manage the background color for light and dark modes, respectively. The shadow-md, rounded-lg, and padding classes (p-6, md:p-8, lg:p-10) add shadow, rounded corners, and responsive padding. The mb-4 class adds a bottom margin.

Benefits of Using Tailwind CSS

Customization and Flexibility

Tailwind is highly customizable. Developers can extend its utility by modifying the configuration file. This flexibility allows teams to create unique designs.

Responsive Design

Tailwind makes it easy to create responsive designs using its built-in breakpoints. Developers can apply different utility classes for various screen sizes.

<div class="flex flex-col sm:flex-row">

In this example the div container will change from columns to rows after the 640px breakpoint

Performance

Using Tailwind can significantly reduce the final CSS file size by removing unused classes.

Reusability

Another important benefit of Tailwind is how easy it is to re-use. You can even find large websites with Tailwind components, such as FlowBite, where you can find components already made by highly qualified designers and ready to use on your website.

Conclusion

While I may not be an expert yet, my experience with Tailwind CSS has shown me its numerous benefits and the enjoyment it brings once you get used to its syntax.
Don’t miss out—start learning this future-proof technology today!