pollen VS shoelace-css

So frameworks like https://www.pollen.style/ are doing this. Personally I still prefer the tailwind approach.

I do think that the real value of Tailwind comes from the utility classes, rather than css-in-html paradigm. You could achieve the same, for example, with Pollen.css [0] or Open Props [1].

[0] https://github.com/heybokeh/pollen

[1] https://github.com/argyleink/open-props

Tailwind is a great option to look into, I really enjoy it, but if you want something a bit more in-between, you can check out frameworks like https://www.pollen.style. There you get a framework of consistent CSS variables you can use, while still writing all your vanilla CSS yourself with full control of everything.

It uses UnoCSS (think TailwindCSS but super customizeable) with Pollen (which is similar to open props).

Very similar to Pollen (https://www.pollen.style), though it looks a little more complicated.

IMO the main value of Tailwind is that it's a step function over your units and colors, which helps bring better consistency and dev speed to UI implementation.

Tailwind's "write class names instead of CSS" approach makes sense in the component-based systems most apps are built in these days, where pretty much any repeated markup will be turned into a component. It performs better than scoped styles and is less complicated.

A CSS variable approach like Open Props or Pollen is, in my experience, better if you're not using a component-based system (ie. conventional HTML) and therefore have repeated markup patterns. Having a simple class name to apply to repeated markup is much more maintainable than trying to copy/paste a long tailwind string around.

Pollen and Open Props are two popular examples of such token first frameworks. If you are not familiar with CSS Custom Properties (also called CSS variables), I recently wrote about how to use them to create a CSS Style API layer.

In the last few years, a new set of frameworks with a radically different concept drew the attention of frontend developers. These frameworks are now extremely popular in the frontend world, and you’re likely already familiar with them: Tailwind CSS and Pollen.

HTMX gets all the hype right now, but there are other tools in the same vain, my favorite being Unpoly (https://unpoly.com). Together with Shoelace (https://shoelace.style) you get nice GUIs real fast, without the burden of complicated dependency management and build steps. Also, you don't have to write a lot of JS, just what is needed for small enhancements, as it was meant to be. Some might say the main drawback is the tight coupling to your backend. In my case, this is also the main benefit as it integrates perfectly with the backend framework (Django).

Hello HN,

I'm releasing Hyperdiv (https://hyperdiv.io), a framework for rapidly developing reactive browser UIs in Python, with immediate-mode syntax and using Shoelace (https://shoelace.style) as its built-in component system.

This short coding video will give you a good idea of what it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJKfxaqvGE

I wrote a brief article about the motivation and approach: https://hyperdiv.io/intro.html

Hyperdiv doesn't aim to compete with serious full-stack frameworks. The core aim was to make it easy and fast to prototype apps and build UI-based tools. I was originally motivated by internal tools at work -- feeling the need to quickly put together UI-based tools to share with both technical and non-technical coworkers, without having to stand up and maintain a full internal stack.

This is my first major open source release. I really appreciate your feedback and support. - Marius

For example, all the following design systems can be used without tooling (some of them provide ready-to-use bundles, others can be used through import maps): Google's Material Web, Microsoft's Fluent UI, IBM's Carbon, Adobe's Spectrum, Nordhealth's Nord, Shoelace, etc.

Here's what this looks like - note that I'm using Shoelace components for styling purposes.

There are lots of open-source design systems built with Lit. Shoelace is a popular component set that you might check out: https://github.com/shoelace-style/shoelace There are many others...

Would it help if we listed more open source projects on our site?

Because of our focus on components and the fact that you really can use just about any libraries and scaffolding for apps, we don't really have an app starter kit, but it's something we've talked about.

I'm really excited about all this, and it makes me have some faith in the web again. I think that Lit is a step in the right direction especially the ability to do SSR / SSG and hydrate a web page. Hopefully 🤞 Shoelace can get SSR running, which is currently one hurdle, but I think it is achievable.