Tailwind Is...

It’s that time of year again when the internet piles on Tailwind. This round feels especially vitriolic as it aims to portray Tailwind as this insidious thing that is misleading developers into creating some unmaintainable monstrosity.

I’ve given Tailwind a fair go, and I still do from time to time. I’ll tell you that I prefer writing CSS the “old-fashioned” way. I won’t turn around then and tell someone else they’re wrong for using Tailwind or being deceived.

It’s none of your business how someone likes to build. I use “like” because I believe building on the web should be fun. The client doesn’t care, and the people visiting the site don’t care either, so you might as well enjoy it. Yes, it will become tech debt unless the project is well-maintained. That’s the price for adding in a new tool or dependency, not something inherent to Tailwind.

Don’t waste your time justifying your decision to do what makes you happy.

I also acknowledge that sometimes it isn’t a choice. Sometimes you work in a place that makes that decision for you. That’s nothing to feel bad about if you’re encountering hate online. It’s just another thing you can learn which can bring value anywhere you go.

Depending on your industry, it will all get rebuilt in time. Artefacts of a bygone era are relegated to a distant commit in a repositories history. Like layers of sediment, it will tell a story for anyone interested in looking.

Just because something won’t be around forever doesn’t mean you’re right.