We've been using visual generators since the introduction of the box-shadow css ...

prisenco · 2024-04-24T15:18:54

| Did you ever actually write them fully by hand?

Absolutely. Have for decades. Still do.

This is why I said Tailwind reminds me of an ORM. If you properly know the underlying technology, it just gets in the way.

And CSS is not just about properties. It's also about inheritance and DOM independence, something tailwind doesn't address.

_akhe · 2024-04-24T05:24:22

Of course I know CSS shorthand by memory (and most of Tailwind too), and yeah definitely googled "tailwind box shadow" more often (which one is which).

Back in my day we used Bootstrap classes but those guys put -15px margins everywhere so nobody uses their library anymore LOL

ffsm8 · 2024-04-24T07:56:07

Knowing the shorthand and actually writing it are different things.

If I get a visual spec from a designer, I'm not going to try out various numbers until it fits the image. I'll either ask them for the specific attribute if their tool allows for that or replicate it with a generator.

And if I'm fully in control myself, I'm going to use a generator too as I'll want it to look a specific way, which is easier to achieve with instantaneous feedback as you get it from a generator such as https://www.cssmatic.com/box-shadow

_akhe · 2024-04-24T16:30:28

> Knowing the shorthand and actually writing it are different things

CSS shorthand meaning:

  margin: 0 0 1rem;

which is the same as:

  margin-top: 0;
  margin-right: 0;  
  margin-bottom: 1rem;
  margin-left: 0;

etc.

I can't imagine how you would know the shorthand without first knowing the longer form. CSS shorthand requires that you know the original form + the order of values in shorthand, and when values can be omitted along with special formatting as in:

  font: normal normal 1em/1.6em sans-serif;

CSS shorthand is - I would say - more advanced than long form.

> I'm going to ask the designer what units to use

I would never get in the habit of letting a designer tell the front-end developers how to write CSS, mainly because they work in pixels, when the developer is often using viewport units, rem for sizing, em for fonts and icons relative to an initial size and current user zoom factor, and flex gaps and alignment for spacing. That level of collaboration and specification on spacing, sizes, etc. between the developer and designer (redlining) might be part of an initial design system discussion, but the resulting component library is probably translated into a style system that works well for the engineering team.

I think it's good you're using CSS generators, I learned most of CSS that way via Dreamweaver, and have copy/pasted from CSS Tricks countless times for edge case stuff - it's a great way to learn.