Open in app

Sign in

Write

Sign in

CSS-in-JS Libraries 📚for Styling 🪡React Components: A Comprehensive 📝 Comparison

Israel
Bootcamp

In this article we would explore emotion a (css-in-js) library and why it benefits your project.

Introduction

Styling is crucial in React apps for enhancing user experiences and brand identity. CSS-in-JS libraries have emerged as a modern solution, blending JavaScript’s power with CSS’s elegance. They address challenges like class clashes and global styles. This article compares top CSS-in-JS libraries, aiding developers in making informed choices for effective and maintainable styling in React projects.

Table of Content

  1. Understanding CSS-in-JS:
  • Definition and Concept
  • Advantages Over Traditional Styling

2. Common Challenges in Styling React Components:

  • Issues with Traditional CSS
  • Need for Scoped Styling in React

3. Introducing CSS-in-JS Libraries:

  • Rise in Popularity
  • Brief Overview of Key Libraries

4. A Deep Dive into Key CSS-in-JS Libraries:

styled-components:

  • Core Concepts
  • Examples and Use Cases
  • Pros and Cons

Emotion:

  • Core Concepts
  • Examples and Use Cases
  • Pros and Cons

JSS (CSS in JS):

  • Core Concepts
  • Examples and Use Cases
  • Pros and Cons

5. Comparison Criteria:

  • Performance
  • Syntax and API
  • Theming and Variants
  • Third-party Compatibility
  • Developer Experience

6. Performance Benchmarking:

  • Results and Metrics
  • Visualized Data

7. Syntax and API Comparison:

  • styled-components vs. Emotion vs. JSS

8. Use Cases and Best Practices:

  • Library Suitability for Different Projects

9. Conclusion:

  • Summary of Key Findings

10. References

1. Understanding CSS-in-JS:

CSS-in-JS is a novel approach that fuses JavaScript and CSS together to manage styles in React applications. Unlike traditional CSS, where styles are often defined in separate files or within HTML tags, CSS-in-JS allows developers to encapsulate styles directly within their components using JavaScript. This paradigm shift brings several benefits that enhance the maintainability, modularity, and performance of styling in React applications.

Differences from Traditional CSS:

In traditional CSS, styles are typically defined in separate files or style tags. This can lead to global scope issues, class name clashes, and difficulty in keeping track of styles. CSS-in-JS libraries alleviate these problems by allowing styles to be scoped to specific components. This means that styles defined in one component don’t interfere with styles in another.

Advantages of Using CSS-in-JS:

  • Scoped Styles: With CSS-in-JS, styles are inherently scoped to the component they’re defined in, reducing conflicts and making it easier to reason about styles.
  • Dynamic Styling: JavaScript can be used to create dynamic styles based on props or state. This enables the creation of adaptive and interactive UI components.
  • Component-Based Approach: Styles are tightly coupled with components, promoting a more modular and component-centric development approach.
  • Elimination of Class Name Collisions: Since class names are often generated dynamically, the risk of class name collisions is minimized.

Example Code Snippets:

Traditional CSS:

/* styles.css */
.button {
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
}

React Component with Traditional CSS:

import React from 'react';
import './styles.css';

const Button = () => {
  return <button className="button">Click me</button>;
};

export default Button;

CSS-in-JS:

import React from 'react';
import { css } from '@emotion/react';

const Button = () => {
  const buttonStyle = css`
    background-color: blue;
    color: white;
    padding: 10px 20px;
  `;

  return <button css={buttonStyle}>Click me</button>;
};

export default Button;

In the example above, the CSS-in-JS approach using Emotion library allows styles to be defined directly within the component using JavaScript’s template literals. This ensures encapsulation and avoids potential class name conflicts.

2. Common Challenges in Styling React Components

Styling React components using traditional CSS and even CSS pre-processors can introduce a range of challenges that impact maintainability, collaboration, and the overall user experience. These challenges become more pronounced as applications grow in complexity.

Challenges with Traditional CSS and CSS Pre-processors:

  • Global Scope Issues: Traditional CSS often relies on global selectors, making it easy to accidentally override styles from other parts of the application, resulting in unexpected behavior.
  • Class Name Clashes: As projects expand, the likelihood of class name collisions increases, leading to hard-to-trace bugs and conflicting styles.
  • Limited Modularity: Traditional CSS lacks built-in modularity, making it challenging to isolate and reuse styles across components.
  • Specificity Wars: Managing CSS specificity can become a headache, especially when trying to target specific elements without affecting others.
  • Maintainability: Large, centralized CSS files can become difficult to maintain, especially when multiple team members are working on the same codebase.

The Need for Scoped and Component-Based Styling:

React applications thrive on modularity and component-based architecture. To align with this paradigm, styling should follow suit. This is where scoped and component-based styling, as offered by CSS-in-JS libraries, shines:

  • Scoped Styling: By encapsulating styles within the components that use them, CSS-in-JS mitigates global scope issues and prevents unintended style conflicts. Each component’s styles are isolated from others.
  • Component-Centric Approach: Component-based styling allows developers to define styles alongside the component’s logic, promoting self-contained and easily reusable components.
  • Dynamic Styles: With scoped styling, you can easily apply dynamic styles based on component props and state, enabling rich interactive experiences without resorting to complex class manipulation.
  • Simpler Collaboration: Scoped styles reduce the likelihood of conflicts when multiple developers are working on different parts of the application simultaneously.
  • Efficiency: Eliminating the need to search through global CSS files or struggle with complex selectors streamlines development and speeds up debugging.

In essence, the challenges posed by traditional CSS are effectively addressed by the scoped and component-based nature of CSS-in-JS libraries. This alignment with React’s core principles results in more maintainable, modular, and manageable styling solutions for modern applications.

3. Introducing CSS-in-JS Libraries:

CSS-in-JS libraries have gained substantial popularity within the React ecosystem due to their innovative approach to styling. These libraries combine JavaScript’s dynamic capabilities with the precision of CSS to offer a modern and efficient way of styling components.

Rise in Popularity:

In recent years, CSS-in-JS libraries have witnessed a surge in adoption among React developers. This popularity is driven by their ability to solve long-standing styling challenges, enhance collaboration, and empower developers to create polished user interfaces.

Brief Overview of Key Libraries:

Some of the prominent CSS-in-JS libraries include:

  • styled-components: This library uses tagged template literals to define styles alongside components. It encourages a component-focused approach and supports dynamic styling based on props.
  • Emotion: Emotion offers a similar approach to styled-components but also provides advanced features like theming and server-side rendering capabilities.
  • JSS (CSS in JS): JSS embraces a JavaScript-first philosophy, allowing you to define styles using JavaScript objects. It provides a high degree of customization and integrates well with other libraries.

These libraries collectively offer developers a range of options to choose from, each with its own strengths and features. The rise of CSS-in-JS libraries signifies a fundamental shift in how developers approach styling in modern React applications.

4. A Deep Dive into Key CSS-in-JS Libraries

Styled-components:

Core Concepts: styled-components revolves around the idea of writing CSS-in-JS using tagged template literals. It treats styles as components themselves, encapsulating them within the component they style.

Examples and Use Cases:

import styled from 'styled-components';

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// Usage
<Button>Click me</Button>

Styled-components excel in creating reusable and dynamic components like buttons, cards, and form elements.

Pros:

  • Scoped styles and no global scope issues
  • Dynamic styling based on props and themes
  • CSS props for responsive designs

Cons:

  • Learning curve for developers new to CSS-in-JS
  • Added runtime cost for generating styles

Emotion:

Core Concepts: Emotion operates similarly to styled-components, emphasizing component-level styles using tagged template literals. It offers advanced theming capabilities and supports server-side rendering.

Examples and Use Cases:

import { css } from '@emotion/react';

const buttonStyle = css`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// Usage
<button css={buttonStyle}>Click me</button>

Emotion is great for applications requiring intricate theming and server-side rendering.

Pros:

  • Theming and global styles are easy to manage
  • Strong server-side rendering support
  • Well-suited for larger and thematically diverse projects

Cons:

  • Can feel overwhelming for smaller projects
  • CSS prop usage may not be as intuitive

JSS (CSS in JS):

Core Concepts: JSS follows a JavaScript-centric approach, allowing styles to be defined using JavaScript objects. It generates styles at runtime, making it highly customizable.

Examples and Use Cases:

import { createUseStyles } from 'react-jss';

const useStyles = createUseStyles({
  button: {
    backgroundColor: 'blue',
    color: 'white',
    padding: '10px 20px',
  },
});

// Usage
const classes = useStyles();
<button className={classes.button}>Click me</button>

JSS is suitable for projects requiring programmatic and dynamic styling.

Pros:

  • JavaScript-first approach allows for dynamic and conditional styling
  • Highly customizable and reusable styles
  • Supports advanced styling needs like animations

Cons:

  • May require configuration for server-side rendering
  • Initial setup and learning curve

5. Comparison Criteria

Performance: CSS-in-JS libraries can impact application performance differently. Some libraries offer optimizations that minimize runtime overhead.

Example:

// styled-components
const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'black'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// Emotion
const buttonStyle = css`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'black'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Syntax and API: Different libraries have varied syntax and APIs for defining styles. Some libraries provide simpler template literals, while others offer JavaScript objects.

Example:

// styled-components
const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// JSS
const useStyles = createUseStyles({
  button: {
    backgroundColor: 'blue',
    color: 'white',
    padding: '10px 20px',
  },
});

Theming and Variants: Theming and variant support is crucial for consistent design across components. Libraries offer different mechanisms to manage theming and variations.

Example:

// styled-components
const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.theme.primaryColor};
  color: ${props => props.theme.textColor};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// Emotion
const buttonStyle = props => css`
  background-color: ${props.theme.primaryColor};
  color: ${props.theme.textColor};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Third-party Compatibility: Integration with external tools and components can vary. Some libraries might offer smoother compatibility with certain third-party libraries.

Example:

// styled-components with Material-UI
import { Button as MUIButton } from '@mui/material';
const StyledButton = styled(MUIButton)`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Developer Experience: The overall development experience, including documentation, community support, and tooling, differs between libraries.

Example:

// styled-components documentation
const StyledButton = styled.button`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

// Emotion documentation
const buttonStyle = css`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

In essence, comparing CSS-in-JS libraries based on these criteria helps developers choose the one that aligns best with their project requirements and development preferences.

6. Performance Benchmarking

Results and Metrics: Performance is a critical consideration when choosing a CSS-in-JS library. Benchmarking can involve measuring factors like load times, rendering speed, and memory usage.

Example:

// Load Time Measurement
const startLoad = performance.now();
// Load the component using the CSS-in-JS library
const endLoad = performance.now();
const loadTime = endLoad - startLoad;

// Rendering Speed Measurement
const startRender = performance.now();
// Render the component
const endRender = performance.now();
const renderTime = endRender - startRender;

// Memory Usage Measurement
// Monitor memory usage during component rendering
const memoryUsage = performance.memory.usedJSHeapSize;

Visualized Data: Benchmark results can be visualized using charts or graphs, aiding in clear comparisons between libraries.

Example:

// Sample data for visualization
const libraryNames = ['styled-components', 'Emotion', 'JSS'];
const loadTimes = [120, 150, 100]; // in milliseconds
const renderTimes = [10, 12, 8]; // in milliseconds

// Charting library (e.g., Chart.js) usage
// Render a bar chart comparing load times
// Render a line chart comparing render times

Incorporating performance benchmarking helps developers make informed decisions by evaluating how different CSS-in-JS libraries impact the overall performance of their React applications.

7. Syntax and API Comparison

styled-components: styled-components employs tagged template literals to define styles alongside components. It encourages a CSS-like syntax within JavaScript, enabling dynamic styles using props.

Example:

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'black'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Emotion: Emotion shares a similar approach to styled-components, using tagged template literals for styling. It offers advanced theming and customization features.

Example:

const buttonStyle = css`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'black'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

JSS: JSS takes a JavaScript-first approach, allowing styles to be defined using JavaScript objects. It offers fine-grained control over styling, making it suitable for complex applications.

Example:

const useStyles = createUseStyles({
  button: {
    backgroundColor: 'blue',
    color: 'white',
    padding: '10px 20px',
  },
});

In summary, styled-components, Emotion, and JSS each offer distinct syntax and APIs for defining styles within React components. Developers can choose based on their familiarity with JavaScript, their preference for dynamic styling, and the level of customization required.

8. Use Cases and Best Practices:

Library Suitability for Different Projects: Choosing the right CSS-in-JS library depends on the specific requirements of your project. Here’s a brief overview of library suitability for different types of projects:

styled-components:

  • Well-suited for projects emphasizing code readability and maintainability.
  • Ideal for teams already familiar with CSS-in-JS or styled-components.
  • Recommended for projects with a moderate level of theming and dynamic styling.

Emotion:

  • Great for applications requiring advanced theming and server-side rendering.
  • Suitable for projects that demand fine-grained control over styling and theming.
  • Recommended when dynamic styles are essential and complex component variations are needed.

JSS:

  • Best for projects with a preference for JavaScript-first styling.
  • Ideal for applications needing highly customized and programmatic styling.
  • Recommended when you want to achieve sophisticated animations or need tight control over generated class names.

In practice, the choice depends on factors like your team’s familiarity with a library, the complexity of the application, and the desired level of theming and dynamic styles. It’s valuable to explore each library’s documentation and experiment with a small sample project before making a decision.

Remember that while these recommendations provide a starting point, your project’s specific needs and your team’s preferences play a crucial role in determining the most suitable CSS-in-JS library.

9. Conclusion

12. Conclusion:

In conclusion, the world of CSS-in-JS libraries presents a transformative approach to styling React components. We’ve explored how these libraries address the challenges of traditional CSS, introducing scoped and component-based styling. Through a deep dive into key libraries like styled-components, Emotion, and JSS, we’ve seen their unique syntaxes, use cases, and advantages.

Comparing these libraries based on performance, syntax, theming, compatibility, and developer experience, we’ve learned that each has its strengths and considerations. Styled-components excels in encapsulation, Emotion shines in theming, and JSS offers JavaScript-centric customization.

Ultimately, choosing the right CSS-in-JS library boils down to the needs of your project. With a clearer understanding of their features and applications, you’re better equipped to make an informed decision that aligns with your development philosophy and project requirements.

Whether it’s creating delightful user interfaces, improving collaboration among teams, or enhancing overall application performance, CSS-in-JS libraries offer a modern solution to elevate your React styling endeavors.

10. References

  1. Styled-Components Documentation.
  2. Emotion Documentation.
  3. JSS Documentation
  4. React Community Forum. (2022). Thread: Choosing the Right CSS-in-JS Library.
  5. Web Dev Weekly Podcast. (2021). Episode 42: Exploring CSS-in-JS Libraries for React.

Find this article helpful? Drop a like or comment.
Gracias 🙏

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

Bootcamp
Bootcamp

Published in Bootcamp

75K Followers
Last published 7 hours ago

From idea to product, one lesson at a time. To submit your story: https://tinyurl.com/bootspub1

Israel
Israel

Written by Israel

1.3K Followers
32 Following

I'm Isreal a Frontend Engineer with 4+ experience in the space . My love to profer solutions led me to being a technical writer. I hope to make +ve impact here.

No responses yet

Write a response

What are your thoughts?