Tailwind

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first framework that allows users to define com­pon­ents. The CSS is very popular but requires extensive prior knowledge.

A CSS framework is a col­lec­tion of functions and elements necessary for website design. Because de­velopers can make use of the pre-existing options, website design and team col­lab­or­a­tions are sim­pli­fied. CSS frame­works use code libraries that are used in the HTML code for this purpose.

Tailwind CSS is a popular CSS framework that is entirely utility-first and provides users with low-level CSS classes in PostCSS that can be used to define com­pon­ents and designs in­de­pend­ently. Tailwind CSS was developed by Adam Wathan and first released in 2017. Since then it’s been installed by millions of users.

The main ad­vant­ages of utility-first frame­works like Tailwind CSS are flex­ib­il­ity and the resulting pos­sib­il­it­ies for cus­tom­isa­tion. Unlike tra­di­tion­al Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), utility-first frame­works don’t include pre-built com­pon­ents, but offer utility classes. These contain pre­defined styles that can be applied to an element. This sim­pli­fies the process, results in clearer code, and provides many ad­di­tion­al design options that con­trib­ute to more cus­tom­ised websites.

Tailwind CSS is par­tic­u­larly suitable for users with prior knowledge of CSS and those who are familiar with its special features. A basic un­der­stand­ing of HTML is important for working with the utility-first framework, since com­pon­ents must be created in­de­pend­ently, and all styles are stored directly in the HTML files. Except for some basics like margins, sizes and colours, Tailwind CSS does not use defaults. Provided de­velopers have the ex­per­i­ence, they can use Tailwind CSS to liberally design website elements and save time.

The CSS is suitable for frontend web projects of any kind and can be used in con­junc­tion with popular JavaS­cript frame­works. For example, Lavarel, Vue.js, and React can be used with Tailwind CSS. The com­bin­a­tion does away with the object-ori­ent­ated approach of many other frame­works

Because of its par­tic­u­lar approach, Tailwind CSS isn’t suitable for everyone. To find out whether a utility-first approach is right for you, consider the ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages of Tailwind CSS.

• There’s no need to switch between HTML files and CSS files. As a rule, work runs more smoothly this way.
• Working with Tailwind CSS allows for more cus­tom­ised solutions for important elements on a website. This makes it stand out from the crowd.
• Due to the pre­defined classes and the use of CSS Media Queries Tailwind CSS makes for a re­spons­ive framework that works well on mobile devices too.
• Overall de­vel­op­ment is faster and fa­cil­it­ated by utility classes.
• Pre­defined classes help to compress CSS.
• Tailwind CSS makes it easy to implement modal com­pon­ents.
• The framework is stable and rarely suffers bugs or errors.
• If you’re already familiar with CSS, the logical structure and approach of the utility-first framework are a bonus and the learning curve is re­l­at­ively flat.
• If you’re currently in the process of learning CSS and wish to use Tailwind CSS at the same time, the com­pre­hens­ive and easy to un­der­stand doc­u­ment­a­tion will guide you.

• Nev­er­the­less, using the framework for the first time is fairly difficult if you’re not ex­per­i­enced with the pe­cu­li­ar­it­ies and pitfalls of CSS.
• The code can be confusing because a lot of in­form­a­tion is stored in the HTML file. Mixing design and HTML violates the principle of ‘sep­ar­a­tions of concerns’.
• When you install Tailwind CSS, default CSS styles are deleted. You must first recreate all elements. This applies to important com­pon­ents like buttons, headers or nav­ig­a­tion bars.
• Certain HTML elements repeat in the markup, so the code violates the ‘Don’t repeat yourself!’ principle. This happens, for example, when a certain element is to be used several times on the website.

Much like other frame­works, Tailwind CSS aims to ease the process of creating a website. Thanks to pre­defined classes and known CSS rules, websites can be created faster. Because the principle is always the same, ex­per­i­enced users can switch between frame­works more rapidly. While con­ven­tion­al solutions provide fixed com­pon­ents such as buttons or nav­ig­a­tion bars, Tailwind CSS allows i.e. requires in­di­vidu­al creation. Unlike some other frame­works, Tailwind CSS is aimed at pro­fes­sion­als with extensive prior knowledge of CSS.

The easiest way to add Tailwind CSS is using a package manager. You should have Node.js installed on your computer. Here’s how to proceed:

Create a new project in terminal.

This will create a package.json file in the root directory. The extension ‘-y’ is used to set default values.

To install the latest stable version of Tailwind CSS as a de­pend­ency, use the following command:

The in­stall­a­tion can take a few minutes.

To generate the tailwind.config.js file, enter the following command:

The content of the file should look like this:

Access the src folder and add the following lines to your CSS file:

Finally, enter the following command in the terminal to start the build process:

The pop­ular­ity of Tailwind CSS is hardly sur­pris­ing. Ex­per­i­enced de­velopers familiar with CSS tricks will ap­pre­ci­ate the framework enabling them to work faster and more un­tethered. However, beginners would be better served using an al­tern­at­ive because the framework is harder to learn and there’s more potential for errors.