7 ways to deal with CSS

TL;DR

Learn seven ways to write CSS in React, from global CSS to utility classes, each with trade-offs for your project's needs.

Transcript

when you get started with web development they say you gotta learn the css fundamentals i agree but when you get out into the real world you'll find that one does not just use plain css to build an app the left side's getting lower than the right side i can see what's happening now twist it all right it's just too painful there are literally hundre... Read More

Key Insights

• 🈸 CSS fundamentals are crucial, but practical applications demand more than plain CSS.
• 🏛️ Options in React for CSS include global CSS, CSS modules, preprocessors like SCSS, CSS-in-JS libraries, utility class libraries, and pre-built CSS frameworks.
• 🧑‍💼 Each CSS approach in React entails trade-offs in terms of scalability, efficiency, learning curve, and customization.
• 💥 CSS modules in Next.js help with local scoping, preventing naming collision issues and reducing bundle sizes.
• 👨‍💻 Preprocessors like SCSS offer advanced features like variables and mixins to enhance CSS code in React projects.
• ✊ CSS-in-JS libraries provide programmatic features with JavaScript power for dynamic styling in Next.js.
• 🥺 Utility class libraries like Tailwind offer rapid UI development in React, but may lead to code organization challenges.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why can't you rely solely on plain CSS in the real world for building apps?

Plain CSS alone is insufficient due to scalability issues, difficulty in naming conventions, inefficient bundle sizes, and lack of programmatic features like loops and mixins.

Q: How do CSS modules in Next.js address the naming collisions and bundle size issues?

CSS modules in Next.js offer scoped styling to individual components, preventing naming collisions and reducing the bundle size by loading only necessary CSS per page.

Q: What advantages do preprocessors like SCSS provide over plain CSS in React applications?

Preprocessors like SCSS offer additional features like variables, mixins, and functions, making CSS more concise and efficient while still compiling to plain CSS for use in Next.js projects.

Q: How do CSS-in-JS libraries like Styled Components enhance CSS capabilities in React?

CSS-in-JS libraries allow writing CSS within JavaScript code, providing programmatic features with the power of JavaScript, enabling dynamic styles based on application state changes in Next.js.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Learning CSS fundamentals is important, but in the real world, plain CSS alone isn't sufficient for building apps.

• Seven different approaches to CSS in React using Next.js are discussed, each with its own trade-offs for scalability and efficiency.

• Options range from global CSS, CSS modules, preprocessors like SCSS, CSS-in-JS libraries, utility class libraries like Tailwind, to pre-built CSS frameworks like Bootstrap.