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TypeScript revolutionized the act of writing JavaScript React and JSX revolutionized the act of writing HTML GraphQL revolutionized the act of connecting fron

by yodon 8y ago

TypeScript revolutionized the act of writing JavaScript React and JSX revolutionized the act of writing HTML GraphQL revolutionized the act of connecting front end and back end But for CSS... SASS, SCSS, LESS, and such are by comparison pretty pedestrian tweaks on vanilla CSS

anichale 8y ago
I think that CSS-in-JS is the new jam, especially if you're utilizing a state-driven UI view layer like React or Vue.
- yodon 8y ago
  Right, but with CSS-in-JS I'm still fundamentally dealing with all the complexity and subtleties of raw CSS, just with better access to variables and such. Bootstrap is a much more disruptive rethink of CSS (ditto flexbox), but they only disrupt a small portion of the CSS surface area.
ianbicking 8y ago
I think React is an interesting thing to think about here. There was a bunch of libraries that got ever-more-fancy about doing DOM manipulation. Those libraries helped manage the complexity of the model of doing in-place DOM manipulation. React chose something different – much more like the templates of yore – and instead of managing the complexity it introduced a simpler model that eliminated the complexity. That made it really different. SASS/etc help manage the complexity of CSS, but they don't simplify anything at all. I think there's a scope problem here: the styling and layout of an application isn't just a bunch of selectors and styles in CSS. It's the class names and structure in the code, it's the implied connections between the expected rendered layout, it's a private language of expected elements and their semantics. You can't simplify that just using CSS. We're still waiting on someone to come up with a combined approach that actually works. I personally eagerly await someone's genius idea!
vladimir-y 8y ago
> TypeScript revolutionized the act of writing JavaScript I agree with this point. > React and JSX revolutionized the act of writing HTML I see nothing revolutionary in React. > GraphQL revolutionized the act of connecting front end and back end OData existed before GraphQL and still does.

by yodon 8y ago

anichale 8y ago

I think that CSS-in-JS is the new jam, especially if you're utilizing a state-driven UI view layer like React or Vue.

yodon 8y ago
Right, but with CSS-in-JS I'm still fundamentally dealing with all the complexity and subtleties of raw CSS, just with better access to variables and such. Bootstrap is a much more disruptive rethink of CSS (ditto flexbox), but they only disrupt a small portion of the CSS surface area.

ianbicking 8y ago

I think React is an interesting thing to think about here. There was a bunch of libraries that got ever-more-fancy about doing DOM manipulation. Those libraries helped manage the complexity of the model of doing in-place DOM manipulation. React chose something different – much more like the templates of yore – and instead of managing the complexity it introduced a simpler model that eliminated the complexity. That made it really different. SASS/etc help manage the complexity of CSS, but they don't simplify anything at all. I think there's a scope problem here: the styling and layout of an application isn't just a bunch of selectors and styles in CSS. It's the class names and structure in the code, it's the implied connections between the expected rendered layout, it's a private language of expected elements and their semantics. You can't simplify that just using CSS. We're still waiting on someone to come up with a combined approach that actually works. I personally eagerly await someone's genius idea!

vladimir-y 8y ago

> TypeScript revolutionized the act of writing JavaScript I agree with this point. > React and JSX revolutionized the act of writing HTML I see nothing revolutionary in React. > GraphQL revolutionized the act of connecting front end and back end OData existed before GraphQL and still does.