[jakubmazanec]

I generally agree (that the React isn't the main culprit), but what does Tailwind have to do with templating? It's still just CSS classes, but with specific names. Also, I bet you could have strongly typed class name strings using TypeScript's template literal type somehow.

[throwaway284534]

The gist is something like a new cohort of front-end developers and some begrudging back-end folks who never actually learned how anything worked are now trying to inscribe their influence as the new smart people with tools like Tailwind and HTMX.

Wanting to prove yourself isn’t a problem. It’s actually a sign that a developer is starting to form their own opinions. But it becomes toxic when the primary motivation comes from a desire to appear smart instead of actually solving a problem.

You’re absolutely right about typed classes and that’s how React Native does it. Writing and debugging CSS is hard for many of the same reasons that string-based templates exhibit. IMO the developers who push Tailwind are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. CSS is challenging because it’s a combination of declarative aesthetic UI and imperative state management. Choosing to represent that complexity with Tailwind guarantees what could have be a temporary ignorance into a more permanent crutch that retains the same faults of the underlying abstraction, tragically opting out of any of the benefits of embracing the system. Modern CSS is pretty great and learning how it works pays endless dividends.

[jakubmazanec]

> Choosing to represent that complexity with Tailwind guarantees what could have be a temporary ignorance into a more permanent crutch that retains the same faults of the underlying abstraction, tragically opting out of any of the benefits of embracing the system.

I think you maybe don't understand what Tailwind actually does. The only abstraction is its "language" that is used to generate the list of class names you can then use to style elements, but that's not really an abstraction, because in the end it's not that different from using something like BEM and then having to remember project-specific classes. But with Tailwind, it's not specific to a single project. And you always have to understand CSS and how it works anyway.