Styling Options For React Applications | Lecture 204 | React.JS 🔥

Summary

In this insightful exploration of React application styling, we delve into the myriad of options available for developers, ranging from inline CSS and external CSS files to the more component-focused approach of CSS modules. Highlighting React's unopinionated stance on styling, the discussion underscores the pitfalls of global CSS in large projects and champions CSS modules for their component-scoping benefits, enhancing modularity and reusability. Additionally, the narrative touches on the innovative CSS-in-JavaScript libraries like styled components and the utility-first framework, Tailwind. The video also introduces the concept of using UI component libraries, such as Material UI, Chakra UI, or Mantine, to build projects without writing CSS, offering a comprehensive overview of styling strategies in React development.

Takeaways

• 💁 React allows for multiple styling options due to its unopinionated nature regarding web application design, including how applications are styled.
• 📚 Inline CSS is more common in React than in regular HTML, allowing styles to be applied directly to JSX elements via the style prop, providing local scope.
• 💻 External CSS files offer global styling across the entire React application, making any class accessible to all JSX elements but can lead to issues in larger projects due to potential class clashes.
• 🤷‍♂‍ CSS modules provide a solution to the global styling problem by scoping styles to individual components, making the components modular and reusable.
• 🖌 CSS in JavaScript libraries, like styled-components, enable the writing of CSS directly within JavaScript files, aligning with the React philosophy that components should encapsulate their appearance.
• 🔥 Tailwind, a utility-first CSS framework, gains popularity for its approach to design through predefined utility classes within JSX markup, avoiding traditional CSS writing.
• 🚩 The option to use fully fledged UI component libraries (e.g., Material UI, Chakra UI, Mantine) exists, allowing developers to build projects without writing CSS by utilizing pre-styled components.
• 🛠 React's philosophy emphasizes separation of concerns, which reflects in the diverse styling approaches available, each catering to different project needs and developer preferences.
• 🔧 Global CSS can become problematic in large React applications, prompting professionals to avoid it in favor of component-scoped styles for better manageability and modularity.
• 🔔 The exploration of CSS modules in the project aims to demonstrate a practical approach to component-scoped styling, aligning with modern web development practices.

Q & A

Why are there so many different ways to style React applications?

There are many different ways to style React applications because React is unopinionated about many common aspects of building web applications, including styling. This flexibility allows developers to choose the method that best fits their project needs.

What is an inline style in React and how does it differ from regular HTML styling?

In React, an inline style is applied directly to JSX elements using the style prop, which is more common in React than in regular HTML due to React's philosophy of separation of concerns. An inline style is scoped only to the particular JSX element it's applied to, ensuring local scope.

What are the disadvantages of using global CSS in large applications?

Using global CSS in large applications can create huge problems, such as difficulty in tracking which components are using which classes, unintended repercussions when updating classes, and class name clashes, making global CSS a nightmare in large apps.

How do CSS modules improve upon traditional CSS files in React projects?

CSS modules allow for styles to be scoped to individual components, preventing styles from affecting unintended parts of the application. This makes components more modular and reusable, and better reflects React's separation of concerns.

What is the key advantage of using a CSS in JavaScript library like styled-components?

The key advantage of using a CSS in JavaScript library, like styled-components, is that it allows developers to write CSS directly inside JavaScript files, creating React components with styles applied to them. This approach fully embraces the React philosophy that a component should contain all information about its appearance, including CSS.

How does Tailwind CSS differ from other styling options in React?

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that allows developers to use predefined utility classes directly in JSX markup to define styles, layout, and effects. This method differs from other styling options by eliminating the need to leave the JSX markup to write CSS, streamlining the development process.

What are the benefits of using a UI component library like Material UI, Chakra UI, or Mantine in React projects?

Using a UI component library provides prebuilt and pre-styled components common in web applications, which can significantly speed up development time. However, it might not be ideal for beginners but is worth exploring for more experienced developers seeking efficiency.

Why might global CSS be considered almost never used in professional projects?

Global CSS is considered almost never used in professional projects because it can lead to styling conflicts, difficulties in maintaining a consistent look and feel across the application, and challenges in managing class names and styles across multiple components.

In what ways does React's philosophy of separation of concerns influence styling choices?

React's philosophy of separation of concerns influences styling choices by encouraging practices that keep styling scoped and modular to individual components, rather than having global styles that affect the entire application, ensuring each component is self-contained.

What is the significance of exploring different styling options in React projects?

Exploring different styling options in React projects is significant because it allows developers to find the most suitable styling approach that aligns with their project's architecture, scalability needs, and the team's preferences, enhancing both development efficiency and application maintainability.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Exploring CSS Styling Methods in React

This section introduces the concept of styling web applications, specifically within the context of React projects, highlighting the shift from using global external CSS files to exploring CSS modules. It addresses the variety of styling options available for React applications, attributing this diversity to React's unopinionated nature regarding web application aspects like styling. The narrative outlines several methods: inline CSS in JSX elements, global external CSS or Sass files, CSS modules for component-scoped styles, CSS-in-JS libraries (e.g., styled components) for integrating styles directly within JavaScript files, and utility-first CSS frameworks like Tailwind for applying predefined utility classes within JSX markup. The segment concludes with the notion that it's possible to bypass CSS entirely by utilizing UI component libraries, suggesting a broad spectrum of styling approaches catered to various project needs and developer preferences.

05:03

🔍 Introducing CSS Modules and Component Libraries

The focus shifts to a deeper exploration of CSS modules and their advantages in professional React projects. CSS modules are presented as a solution to the challenges posed by global CSS, offering a way to scope styles to individual components, thus enhancing modularity and reusability. This approach aligns with React's philosophy of component isolation and separation of concerns. Furthermore, the potential for using CSS-in-JS libraries for even more integrated styling solutions is briefly revisited. The script also mentions the option of leveraging comprehensive UI component libraries like Material UI, Chakra UI, or Mantine to entirely bypass the need for custom CSS. This option, while not recommended for beginners, is acknowledged as a viable strategy for building projects with a suite of pre-styled components, indicating a spectrum of styling methodologies available to developers depending on their project requirements and personal preferences.

Keywords

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Highlights

Styling web applications with CSS is a crucial aspect of building them.

Traditionally, global external CSS files have been used in applications.

CSS modules represent a departure from global CSS, scoping styles to individual components.

React is unopinionated about styling, leading to a variety of styling options.

Inline CSS in JSX elements is more common in React than in plain HTML.

Global CSS styles can create issues in large projects due to clashes and unpredictability.

Professional projects rarely use global CSS, preferring scoped CSS for better modularity.

CSS modules allow for component-scoped styles, enhancing modularity and reusability.

CSS in JavaScript libraries, like styled components, integrate styles directly into components.

Utility-first CSS frameworks like Tailwind use predefined utility classes for styling.

Fully fledged UI component libraries offer a no-CSS option for building projects.

Component libraries like Material UI, Chakra UI, and Mantine come pre-styled for ease of use.

The multitude of styling options in React reflects its philosophy of separation of concerns.

Exploring CSS modules in projects can enhance understanding of component-based styling.

The project discussed aims to explore CSS modules as a means to style React applications.

Transcripts

‫One important part of building web applications

‫is, of course, to style them with CSS.

‫Now, up until this point, we have always just

‫included a global external CSS file into our applications,

‫and then used the class names from there in our JSX.

‫However, in this project,

‫we will do something a bit different,

‫which is to use CSS modules.

‫But before we do that, I want to take a minute

‫to quickly explore all the different options

‫that we can use to style React applications

‫because there are actually a lot of them.

‫But first you might be wondering, why are there

‫actually so many different ways of styling a React app?

‫Well, it's because one fundamental philosophy of React

‫is to be unopinionated in regards

‫to many common aspects of building web applications.

‫And so one of them is styling.

‫So React really doesn't care

‫about how you style your applications.

‫And so as a result,

‫we have lots of different styling options,

‫most of them being provided by third party libraries.

‫So the first option is one

‫that we have used a few times in the beginning,

‫which is to simply apply some inline CSS

‫to JSX elements using this style prop.

‫Now, this is actually more common in React

‫than in regular HTML

‫because of React's idea of separation of concerns.

‫Now, an inline style is scoped

‫to the particular JSX element that it's applied to,

‫which means that it is locally scoped,

‫so it applies only to that exact element.

‫Now, we have also multiple times

‫included an external CSS file,

‫and then simply applied the CSS classes

‫using the class name prop.

‫And the same would actually

‫also have worked for a Sass file.

‫Now, in this case, our styles are actually global,

‫which means that every single JSX element

‫in the entire application could use any of these classes

‫in the external CSS file.

‫And this can create huge problems,

‫especially in big projects,

‫for example, because you won't know

‫which components are using which classes.

‫And when you then update one of the classes,

‫it will have repercussions in other components,

‫or when a developer adds a new class

‫with a name that already exists,

‫that will create clashes between those two classes.

‫So basically, global CSS is a nightmare in large apps.

‫So in professional projects, CSS is almost never global.

‫Instead, CSS should be scoped to an individual component,

‫which brings us to the next styling options,

‫which is CSS modules.

‫CSS modules are pretty similar to regular CSS files

‫with the difference that we write just one CSS file

‫for each of our components.

‫The styles in that file will then be scoped

‫to only that component

‫so that no other component can use them.

‫And this then makes the components

‫way more modular and reusable.

‫And at the same time,

‫it better reflects React's separation of concerns.

‫And in fact,

‫this is exactly what we will do in this project.

‫Now, if you want to take it even one step further,

‫you can go with a CSS in JavaScript library

‫like styled components.

‫So as the name says with CSS in JavaScript,

‫you actually write your CSS inside a JavaScript file,

‫so in the same file where you define your components.

‫What's special about a CSS in JavaScript library

‫is that it allows us to create React components

‫that have our styles directly apply to them,

‫which we can then use just like regular components.

‫So this fully embraces the React philosophy

‫that a component should contain all the information

‫about its appearance, and so that includes CSS.

‫And finally, you can also use a utility-first CSS framework

‫like Tailwind, which is getting more popular every day.

‫So in Tailwind, you use predefined utility classes

‫to define individual styles, to use flexbox,

‫to make layouts responsive, to make hover effects,

‫and really to design your entire UI,

‫and all that without ever having to leave the JSX markup.

‫Okay, now finally,

‫you do actually have one more option here,

‫which is basically to not write any CSS at all.

‫Wait, what? No CSS?

‫Well, it is actually possible,

‫because you can build your entire project

‫using a fully fledged UI component library,

‫for example, like Material UI, Chakra UI, or Mantine.

‫So essentially, a component library like those

‫contains all kinds of prebuilt and pre-styled components

‫that are common in most web applications.

‫This is, however, not ideal for beginners,

‫but again, it might be worth exploring later.

‫And there you have it.

‫So these are the different ways

‫in which we can style React applications.

‫And so in this project, we will now explore CSS modules.