Head-to-Head: Emotion vs Tachyons Analysis

@emotion/css

v11.13.0(7 days ago)

This package is actively maintained.Types definitions are bundled with the npm packageNumber of direct dependencies: 5Monthly npm downloads

@emotion/css is a popular CSS-in-JS library that allows developers to style their components using JavaScript. It provides a powerful and flexible way to manage styles by enabling the use of template literals for writing CSS directly within JavaScript code. @emotion/css offers features like nested selectors, global styles, and theming support, making it easy to create dynamic and responsive styles for web applications.

Alternatives:
styled-components+
linaria+
goober+
stitches+
twin.macro+
emotion+
@emotion/react+
aphrodite+
glamor+
styletron+

Tags: css-in-jsstylingjavascriptreactive-stylestheming

tachyons

v4.12.0(over 4 years ago)

This package was last published over a year ago. It may not be actively maintained.The package doesn't have any types definitionsNumber of direct dependencies: 0Monthly npm downloads

Tachyons is a functional CSS framework that focuses on creating fast, responsive, and scalable user interfaces. It provides a set of atomic CSS classes that can be easily combined to style elements without writing custom CSS. Tachyons promotes a mobile-first approach and encourages a modular design system, allowing for quick prototyping and consistent styling across projects.

Alternatives:
tailwindcss+
bulma+
bootstrap+
foundation-sites+
skeleton+
milligram+
spectre.css+
purecss+
picnic+
primer-css+

Tags: cssframeworkresponsiveatomic-classesmodular

Fight!

Popularity

Both @emotion/css and Tachyons are popular npm packages in the front-end development community. However, Tachyons has been around for longer and has a larger user base and community support.

CSS-in-JS vs Utility Classes

@emotion/css is a CSS-in-JS library that allows you to write CSS styles directly in your JavaScript code. It provides a more component-centric approach and allows for dynamic styling. Tachyons, on the other hand, is a utility-first CSS framework that provides a set of pre-defined utility classes that can be applied directly to HTML elements. It follows a more declarative approach and is suitable for rapid prototyping and quick styling.

Flexibility

@emotion/css provides more flexibility in terms of styling as it allows you to use JavaScript logic and variables to generate dynamic styles. Tachyons, on the other hand, provides a fixed set of utility classes that can be combined to create different styles. While Tachyons offers less flexibility, it provides a consistent and predictable styling approach.

Performance

In terms of performance, @emotion/css generates optimized CSS at runtime, which can result in slightly slower initial load times. Tachyons, on the other hand, relies on pre-defined utility classes, which can lead to smaller CSS file sizes and faster load times. However, the performance difference between the two packages is generally negligible and depends on the specific use case.

Learning Curve

Both @emotion/css and Tachyons have their own learning curves. @emotion/css requires understanding CSS-in-JS concepts and integrating it into your JavaScript codebase. Tachyons, on the other hand, requires learning the utility class naming conventions and understanding how to compose classes to achieve the desired styles. The learning curve for @emotion/css might be steeper for developers who are not familiar with CSS-in-JS.

Community and Ecosystem

Tachyons has a larger and more established community with a wide range of resources, tutorials, and examples available. It also has a larger ecosystem of plugins and integrations. @emotion/css, while growing in popularity, has a smaller community and ecosystem in comparison. However, both packages have active maintainers and are well-documented.