UI libraries like Tailwind CSS, Material UI, and Bootstrap simplify website styling without the need for raw CSS. This video compares popular UI libraries to identify the emerging winner. Tailwind CSS is highly unopinionated and simplifies CSS writing using shorthand classes. Material UI is a highly opinionated UI library with pre-built React components. It has limited customization options and requires developers to import and use its components. Tailwind enables easy CSS customization using HTML tags, while Material UI offers opinionated components that are hard to customize. Bootstrap is a library that simplifies website creation and provides pre-designed styles. Radix is a JS-based UI framework that offers ready-to-use JavaScript components. Chakra UI and Shad CN are popular UI libraries for web development, offering reusable components. The video emphasizes the importance of learning Tailwind CSS and reusing components for UI development. It explores the codebase of dub.sh, a UI library that utilizes Tailwind and @RadixUI, and highlights the importance of creating a design system and using an unopinionated framework to expose the appropriate components.
Introduction
UI libraries like Bootstrap, Tailwind, and Material UI simplify website styling without the need for raw CSS. They are widely used by companies and offer optimization and design expertise. This video compares popular UI libraries such as Tailwind, Material UI, Bootstrap, Radix, Chakra, and Shad CN to identify the emerging winner.
Tailwind CSS
Tailwind CSS is a UI library that simplifies CSS writing by using shorthand classes and does not require importing additional files. It allows for cleaner and more concise CSS code by applying specific classes to HTML elements. Key points include:
- Tailwind CSS is highly unopinionated and aims to simplify CSS writing.
- Shorthand classes like "ml" and "mt" are used for margin-left and margin-top.
- Unlike other frameworks, Tailwind CSS does not require importing additional files.
- Material UI is briefly mentioned as another library.
Material UI
Material UI is a highly opinionated UI library that provides pre-built React components for developers to use in their projects. It has a specific style and limited customization options, requiring developers to import and use its components. Unlike Tailwind, Material UI does not wrap HTML and CSS. However, injecting raw CSS takes away the benefits of using an external library. Material UI's approach differs from Tailwind, which allows developers to write raw HTML and CSS in a cleaner way.
Key points:
- Material UI is a UI library with pre-built React components
- It has a specific style and limited customization options
- Developers need to import and use its components
- Unlike Tailwind, Material UI does not wrap HTML and CSS
- Injecting raw CSS takes away the benefits of using an external library
- Material UI and Tailwind CSS are often seen as competitors in the choice of UI libraries.
Difference between Tailwind & MUI
Tailwind and Material-UI are two popular libraries with key differences.
Key points:
- Tailwind enables easy CSS customization using HTML tags, while Material-UI offers opinionated components that are hard to customize.
- Developers often face conflicts when choosing between these libraries.
Bootstrap
- Bootstrap is a library that simplifies website creation and provides pre-designed styles.
- It is accessible to those without strong design skills.
- Although not the most popular framework, it is still widely used.
Radix
Radix is a JS-based UI framework that offers ready-to-use JavaScript components like accordions and modals, filling the gap in libraries like Tailwind. It is not focused on providing clean and beautiful UI styles like Tailwind and Material UI. The ideal stack is to use Tailwind for styling and Radix for JavaScript components.
Chakra UI & Shad CN
Chakra UI and Shad CN are popular UI libraries for web development, offering reusable components. Chakra UI requires npm install and is similar to Material UI, while Shad CN provides clean components that can be copied and pasted. Shad CN is unopinionated, allowing for customization. These libraries have gained popularity in the web development community.
Summary of the Video
The most profound aspect of the video is the importance of learning Tailwind CSS as a starting point for UI development.
Key points:
- Tailwind CSS is more suitable for customer-facing companies compared to libraries like Material UI.
- Reusing components is beneficial for UI development.
- The video explores various open-source projects related to Tailwind CSS.
Going through dub.sh codebase
The video explores the codebase of dub.sh, a UI library that utilizes Tailwind and @RadixUI. It emphasizes the importance of using pre-built components like @RadixUI and highlights the opinionated approach of dub.sh in providing specific variants for components. The main takeaway is to understand how to create a design system and use an unopinionated framework to expose the right components for different use cases.
Key points:
- dub.sh is a UI library that encapsulates design elements like buttons, tables, images, and models.
- It follows an opinionated approach by providing components with specific variants.
- The library utilizes Tailwind and @RadixUI for pre-built components.
- It is recommended for JavaScript-heavy components while using a separate styling library.
- The main focus is on creating a design system and using an unopinionated framework to expose the appropriate components.
Conclusion
- Becoming comfortable with Tailwind, a UI library, is beneficial for developers
- The UI part of projects does not change frequently
- Reuse of components such as styles, colors, buttons, and tables
- Easier for backend and full stack developers