Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that provides a set of pre-defined classes to quickly style web elements. It differs from traditional CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation as it focuses on low-level utility classes rather than pre-designed components.

With Tailwind CSS, developers can easily apply classes to HTML elements to achieve desired styles and layouts. The framework offers a comprehensive range of utility classes for tasks such as spacing, typography, positioning, flexbox, grid systems, and more. These classes are highly customizable and can be combined to create intricate and unique designs.

Tailwind CSS promotes a "write code, not classes" approach, allowing developers to build responsive and highly customized interfaces without the need for writing custom CSS. The framework is flexible and can be integrated into various front-end setups, including React, Vue.js, or plain HTML.

By using Tailwind CSS, developers can streamline their workflow, improve productivity, and create consistent designs throughout their projects.

 

The Characteristics that Make Using Tailwind Worthwhile

There are several reasons why developers choose to use Tailwind CSS. Some of these reasons are listed below:

1. Efficiency: Tailwind CSS provides a comprehensive set of utility classes that can be quickly applied to HTML elements. This eliminates the need to write custom CSS for every style, saving development time and improving efficiency.

2. Customizable: The utility classes in Tailwind CSS are highly customizable. Developers can easily modify the default configuration and create their utility classes to match their project's specific design requirements. This flexibility allows for a more tailored and unique design.

3. Responsive design: Tailwind CSS includes responsive utility classes that make it easier to create responsive layouts and designs. Developers can apply different classes based on screen sizes, enabling the creation of responsive designs without writing additional media queries.

4. Consistency: With Tailwind CSS, developers can maintain consistent styles throughout their projects. The utility classes provide a consistent naming convention and design patterns, thereby ensuring a unified and cohesive look across different components.

5. Developer-friendly: Tailwind CSS promotes a developer-friendly workflow. The utility classes are self-explanatory, making it easier for developers to understand and collaborate on the project. The framework also provides extensive documentation and helpful tooling, such as the utility class generator, to streamline development processes.

6. Scalability: Tailwind CSS is designed to scale well for large and complex projects. By using utility classes, developers can easily manage and update styles across the entire application without introducing unnecessary CSS overhead.

7. Integration: Tailwind CSS can be integrated into various front-end frameworks and tools, including React, Vue.js, Angular, and more. This allows developers to leverage the power of Tailwind CSS in their preferred development environment.

Overall, Tailwind CSS offers a pragmatic and efficient approach to building web interfaces. It provides a balance between speed, customization, and maintainability, making it a popular choice for developers looking to streamline their CSS workflow and create visually appealing and responsive designs.

 

The Benefits of Using Tailwind for Improved Work and Development Efficiencies

• You aren’t wasting time inventing class names.
• You keep your custom CSS files small.
• Maintaining a Tailwind CSS project is much easier than maintaining a large traditional CSS file.
• Faster Ul building process.
  
  

Advantages of Tailwind CSS

1. Control over Styling: As a unique CSS framework for web styling, Tailwind does not have a default theme that you have to use like other CSS frameworks. For instance, you can give each project a different look even if you use the same elements (color palette, size, etc.). Therefore, it is one of the few CSS frameworks that is not opinionated on how you should style your project.

2. Faster CSS Styling Process: When it comes to styling HTML, there is no framework faster than Tailwind. You can directly style elements to create visually appealing layouts. This is possible because Tailwind offers thousands of built-in classes that do not require you to create designs from scratch. There’s no need to write CSS rules as the CSS classes make building and styling with Tailwind extremely fast.

3. Responsiveness and Security: With Tailwind’s pre-built classes, you can design the layout directly in an HTML file. This makes it a responsive, mobile-friendly CSS framework. Besides, Tailwind has proven to be a stable framework since its release. Having been developed by top-notch engineers, the framework is devoid of most bugs and breaks.

4. Additional Features: Tailwind CSS works in the front end of a website. Tailwind offers the capability to generate responsive themes for your web applications by eliminating unused CSS classes. With PurgeCSS, Tailwind also helps you keep your final CSS as small as possible.

Disadvantages of Tailwind CSS

1. Styling and HTML are Mixed: Because you do not have to write CSS rules yourself, Tailwind works differently compared to other CSS frameworks. While this is great for those unfamiliar with CSS, it also means that Tailwind mixes style rules in with your HTML files. This goes against the principle of the “separation of concerns.” Many developers prefer to separate page structure and style, claiming that classes make the Tailwind markup process verbose.

2. It Takes Time to Learn: Because of the built-in classes, Tailwind CSS is quite learning-intensive. Utilization of pre-built classes can be difficult, even for seasoned developers. However, like any other development skill, practice is key to achieving proficiency. Nevertheless, if you possess confidence in writing CSS classes quickly, Tailwind might not be the most suitable option for you. Nonetheless, Tailwind generally accelerates CSS styling in the long term.

3. Lack of Important Components: Unlike Bulma and Bootstrap, Tailwind does not have many significant styling components. Unfortunately, this means you must manually add features like headers, buttons, and navigation bars for web apps. This is not a significant drawback, as experienced developers can implement these features quickly. However, you will still need to dedicate some time to doing so.

4. Documentation: While Tailwind CSS has made significant progress in providing guides and video tutorials, it is still behind competitors like Bootstrap. Of course, you have the option to reach out to the developers for assistance, but it's important to consider that this process may require some time. Consequently, you might need to manually customize the framework according to your requirements.

Install Tailwind CSS with NextJs

Now that we have a comprehensive overview of the characteristics, benefits, and fallbacks of the Tailwind CSS, let’s move toward outlining the steps involved in installing it with NextJS.

1. Create your project: Create a new Next.js project. Start by creating a new Next.js project using the following command:

npx create-next-app@latest my-project

cd my-project

2. Install Tailwind CSS: Install Tailwind CSS and SASS dependencies. Navigate to the project directory and install the necessary dependencies by running the following command:

npm install tailwindcss sass

3. Configure your template paths: Create Tailwind CSS configuration files. Then, generate the configuration files for Tailwind CSS. Run the following command to create a tailwind.config.js file:

npx tailwindcss init -p

This command creates a basic tailwind.config.js file in the root of your project. You can customize this file to adjust the default Tailwind CSS settings. Add the paths to all of your template files in your tailwind.config.js file. 

module.exports = {
purge: [
"./src/components/**/*.js",
"./src/pages/**/*.js",
"./src/styles/*.scss",
],
theme: {
extend: {
screens:{
"sm" : "480px"
},
spacing: {
"big" : "48rem"
},
keyframes: {
carouselAnim: {
from: { transform: "translate(0, 0)" },
to: { transform: "translate(calc(-100% + (6 * 300px)))" },
},
wave: {
to: {
"margin-left": "-51%",
},
},
},
animation: {
carousel: "carouselAnim 10s infinite alternate linear",
wave: "wave 1.5s ease-in-out infinite",
},
},
fontFamily:{
nunito: ['Nunito','sans-serif']
}
},
variants: {},
plugins: [require("tailwindcss"), require("precss"), require("autoprefixer")],
};

4. Configure SASS: Create a next.config.js file in the root of your project and configure it to use SASS. Add the following code to the file:

module.exports = {
...nextConfig,
sassOptions: {
includePaths: [path.join(__dirname, 'styles')]
},
}

This configuration above enables SASS support in Next.js.

5. Add the Tailwind directives to your CSS: Create a global SASS file. Inside the styles directory of your project, create a new SASS file named globals.scss (or any other name you prefer). Import the Tailwind CSS styles and any additional SASS styles by adding the following line to the file:

@import "~tailwindcss/base";
@import "~tailwindcss/components";
@import "~tailwindcss/utilities";

6. Import Global SASS: Import global SASS file. In the pages/_app.js file, import the global SASS file you created. Add the following line at the top of the file:

import '../styles/index.scss'

7. Start using Tailwind in your project: Start using Tailwind’s utility classes to style your content.

export default function Home() { 

    return ( 

      <h1 className="text-3xl font-bold underline"> 

        Hello world! 

      </h1> 

    ) 

  } 

8. Start the development server: Run the following command to start the Next.js development server:

npm run dev

Tailwind CSS with SASS is now successfully integrated with your Next.js project. You can start using the utility classes provided by Tailwind CSS and write SASS styles in your components and stylesheets.

Remember to restart the development server whenever you make changes to the Tailwind CSS configuration, SASS files, or global SASS import for the changes to take effect.

SSR (Server-side Rendering) of Tailwind CSS styles in NextJS

NextJS provides us with SSR capabilities by rendering the page in the server. When it comes to SSR of Tailwind CSS styles in Next.js, the goal is to ensure that the styles are applied correctly. Although, if you are using Tailwind for styling, you will notice that the styles are not applied on the server rendered pages.

For this to work, we need to enable an experimental feature in next.config.js

const nextConfig = {
experimental: {
optimizeCss: true, // enabling this will enable SSR for Tailwind
},
};

Remember to restart your development server or rebuild your NextJS application for the changes to take effect. Make a Postman call and under "Preview" you may observe that the Tailwind styles are now getting applied at the server!

To further illustrate, here are two screenshots reflecting the page before and after implementing Tailwind CSS with NextJS.

Before

You can see that no styles are applied on the server rendered page.

After

After the changes are made, you can see that the styles are applied on the server rendered page.

Conclusion

Now that we have not only looked at a comprehensive overview of the features, drawbacks, and advantages of the Tailwind CSS but also outlined the various steps involved in implementing it with the NextJS framework, we can safely conclude that it is a powerful and flexible utility-first CSS framework with unique affordances for web development.

While Tailwind CSS offers many advantages, it is important to note that it may not be suitable for every project. Its utility-first approach and reliance on HTML classes may lead to an increased HTML clutter and involve a steeper learning curve. Additionally, projects that require heavy customization or have strict design constraints may find Tailwind CSS less suitable.

If you are looking to leverage Tailwind CSS for your web development and drive meaningful growth for your organization, reach out to us at Altudo. Our team of Sitecore experts can help you identify if Tailwind CSS can be beneficial to your business and subsequently help develop unique styles for improved aesthetic appeal and user engagement on your website.