Exploring Style X: A Tailwind CSS Alternative

Wassup Everybody, In this blog post, we'll dive into Style X, an open-source CSS library developed by Facebook. It powers some of the most popular websites on the internet, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Some people even call Style X as the "Tailwind killer" or the end of Tailwind. However, it's important to note that Style X is not intended as a replacement for Tailwind. It has its own unique approach to styling apps and scaling design systems.

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The Syntax of Style X

Let's begin by examining the syntax of Style X. While Style X is framework-agnostic, we'll use React as an example in this blog. To start, you define your component and place the styles for that component above it. For example, you might define some base styles for layout purposes using flex properties. You can also define a highlighted state that gives a certain color to our text.

import { cx } from 'stylex';

const MyComponent = () => {
  return (
    <div className={cx(styles.base, styles.highlighted)}>
      {/* Content */}
    </div>
  );
};

One significant benefit of Style X over libraries like styled-components is that it doesn't require creating custom components for every styled element. Instead, you simply apply the desired styles using the stylex props object. This approach makes JSX more readable(this is higly based on personal preference).

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Tailwind Colors and Design System

One aspect of Style X that I appreciate is its focus on custom design systems. Unlike Tailwind CSS, which provides a comprehensive set of beautiful colors out of the box, Style X doesn't include a predefined design system. This means you have to build your own design system from scratch, giving you complete control over the look and feel of your application. While this flexibility is empowering, it requires more initial work to establish a design language.

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Overriding Styles and Variants

Now let's consider overriding styles and using variants in Style X. The syntax for overriding styles is straightforward. For example, if we want an alternative highlighted version of our text with the same font size but a red color, we can simply define the additional style and merge it with the existing styles using a comma as the separator.

import { cx } from 'stylex';

const MyComponent = () => {
  return (
    <div className={cx(styles.base, styles.highlighted, styles.alternativeHighlighted)}>
      <p>This is my blue text.</p>
    </div>
  );
};

In Style X, the order of the style declarations determines the final style. Unlike Tailwind CSS, where a later color declaration overwrites a previous one, Style X allows us to define styles dynamically without creating conflicts.

const MyComponent = () => {
  const useBlueVariant = true;

  return (
    <div className={cx(styles.base, useBlueVariant ? styles.blue : styles.red)}>
      <p>This is my dynamically styled text.</p>
    </div>
  );
};

Additionally, Style X provides a more intuitive approach to handling variants. Variants are a common CSS pattern used to define default styles and apply specific styles for certain variations of an element. In Style X, using variants is straightforward and can be achieved by spreading the stylex props object.

const MyComponent = () => {
  const variant = 'blue';

  return (
    <div className={cx(styles.base, styles[variant])}>
      <p>This is the default white text.</p>
    </div>
  );
};

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Conclusion

While Style X and Tailwind CSS offer different approaches to styling applications, both have their strengths and use cases. Style X stands out for its simplicity, intuitive syntax, and flexibility in building custom design systems.

On the other hand, Tailwind CSS provides excellent defaults and a comprehensive set of predefined styles.

Ultimately, the choice between Style X and Tailwind CSS depends on your project requirements and personal preferences. If you prefer a minimalistic approach with complete design system control, Style X could be an excellent choice.

However, if you value a ready-to-use set of design options and ease of use, Tailwind CSS remains a robust option.

No matter which library you choose, both Style X and Tailwind CSS offer powerful tools to streamline your styling workflow and enhance the aesthetics of your applications.

Let me know your thoughts on CSS-in-JS, Style X, and Tailwind CSS! I'd love to hear your opinions.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog post! 👋

Till then

Happy Coding!

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