JS Party: JavaScript, CSS, Web Development

The Tailwind beneath my wings

Dec 11, 2020

Adam Wathan, creator of Tailwind CSS, discusses the challenges of CSS, the origin and popularity of Tailwind, and its integration into developers' workflows. He also explains how he built a business around Tailwind and the enthusiasm for community usage. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the COC plugin for NioVim and the complexity of VIM configuration.

01:06:10

Creator website

Episode guests

Adam Wathan

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Tailwind CSS offers a unified and efficient way of writing CSS without the need for custom class names, resulting in faster development, easier maintenance, and greater flexibility.

By leveraging utility classes, Tailwind CSS allows developers to easily and efficiently apply common CSS styles without the need for repetitive custom class names, making it a valuable and efficient tool for ongoing development work.

Tailwind CSS includes an 'apply' feature that allows developers to apply custom CSS classes to elements, offering flexibility for styling content and accommodating scenarios where specific features or styles are not available in the framework.

Deep dives

The Origins of Tailwind CSS

Tailwind CSS was initially developed as a personal CSS framework by Adam Wathan, the creator of Tailwind. It started as a project for a specific side project and gradually grew into something more. Adam's goal was to create a CSS framework that provided a unified and efficient way of writing CSS without the need for custom class names for every element. He discovered that this utility-focused approach allowed for faster development, easier maintenance, and greater flexibility. As the framework gained popularity, Adam and his team decided to commercialize it with products like Tailwind UI and the Refactoring UI book, while still dedicating the majority of their time to working on the open-source aspects of Tailwind.

Introduction

4min

Challenges and Misconceptions of CSS

15min

The History and Development of Tailwind CSS Framework

3min

Developing and Commercializing Tailwind CSS

13min

Enthusiasm for Community Usage and Tool Development

5min

COC Plugin for NioVim and the Complexity of VIM Configuration

20min

Discussion on Tailwind CSS, Appreciation, and Sponsors

3min

Incorporating Lyrics into the Conversation

4min

Tailwind CSS creator Adam Wathan joins Jerod, Nick, & Feross for an in-depth discussion of his trending utility-first CSS framework. We cover why everyone complains about CSS, how Tailwind began and how it gained popularity, how developers use with Tailwind and integrate it into their workflows, and how Adam has managed to build a business around the project. Thanks, Bette Midler!

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 3 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

AWS Amplify – AWS Amplify is a suite of tools and services that enable developers to build full-stack serverless and cloud-based web and mobile apps using their framework and technology of choice. Amplify gives you easy access to hosting, authentication, managed GraphQL, serverless functions, APIs, machine learning, chatbots, and storage for files like images, videos, and pdfs. Learn more and get started for free at awsamplify.info/JSParty
Raygun – With Raygun Error and Performance Monitoring you have all the information you need at your fingertips to quickly find and fix errors and performance issues across your tech stack down to the line of code. Get started with a free 14-day trial, head to raygun.com and join thousands of customer-centric software teams who use Raygun every day.
Linode – Get $100 in free credit to get started on Linode – our cloud of choice and the home of Changelog.com. Head to linode.com/changelog OR text CHANGELOG to 474747 to get instant access to that $100 in free credit.

Featuring:

Adam Wathan – GitHub, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Feross Aboukhadijeh – Website, GitHub, X
Nick Nisi – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more