CSS vs. JavaScript - Trust vs. Control
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This document discusses the differences between CSS and JavaScript and when each is most appropriate to use. It argues that CSS is often underestimated in favor of JavaScript solutions. CSS has advanced significantly with features like calc(), media queries, animations/transitions, flexbox, grid, variables and more. These powerful features allow many tasks to be accomplished with CSS alone without needing JavaScript. The document encourages embracing the "squishiness" of the web and considering CSS more when building interfaces.
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CSS vs. JavaScript - Trust vs. Control
- 1. Chris Heilmann @codepo8 christianheilmann.com CSS vs. JavaScript: Trust vs. Control
- 3. https://twitter.com/floatvoid/status/863605150799118336 https://twitter.com/gianablantin/status/860965927898054656 CSS seems to be confusing for programmers…
- 4. CSS is fault tolerant – this can be confusing
- 5. JavaScript is not fault tolerant – this can be disastrous
- 6. CSS You apply your styles and you hope it worked. JavaScript You control the styling and you can and should verify that it worked
- 7. embracethesquishiness.com Means embracing the squishiness of the web!
- 8. embracethesquishiness.com Things beyond your control: • The browsers of your users • The resolution, pixel depth and colour settings of their devices • Their connection reliability and speed • Their connection restrictiveness – resources may be blocked • Their font size and zoom needs • The availability of resources on their machines for your product (is the CPU already burning?) • The amount of text content and image sizes in your product – CMS anyone?
- 9. CSS It is the job of the browser to perform well, use GPU resources and skip functionality. JavaScript It’s your job to test for support, to ensure rendering, painting and reflow is fast and to keep animation in sync.
- 10. So why do we constantly under-estimate CSS and over-value the benefits of JavaScript?
- 11. CSS had a bumpy history… • Initially very limited and a replacement for visual HTML and attributes (font, bgcolor, align…) • Patchy browser support and very odd errors without debugging options • Massive jump in functionality when iPhone became a thing and Apple called the shots • Lots of problems with browser wars around prefixes • Up until recently no layout model, but hacks using positioning and floating. So, too restrictive or too confusing
- 12. Our solution was to patch with JavaScript. We can read out conditions and react to them creating HTML and applying styling.
- 13. But CSS has been going leaps and bounds • Evergreen browsers are a thing • Browser tooling gives detailed insights • Support is well documented: caniuse.com • Support channels and bug tracking is available for almost all browsers • Pre-processors like Sass and Less have turned up the heat to innovate the spec faster, much like jQuery inspired JavaScript of today • Approaches like OOCSS (Nicole Sullivan) and Atomic Design (Brad Frost) help work with maintainability across different componentss
- 14. So here are some amazing things CSS can do now and you should consider using…
- 19. Media Queries
- 30. Viewport Units
- 31. Viewport Units Viewport Width (vw) A percentage of the full viewport width. f.e. 480px wide screen - 10vw is 10% or 48px % is percentage of the parent element, vw is percentage of the window. Viewport Height (vh) A percentage of the full viewport height. Viewport Minimum (vmin) A percentage of the viewport width or height, whichever is smaller. 10vmin = 10% of the current viewport width in portrait and 10% of the viewport height on landscape. Viewport Maximum (vmax) A percentage of the viewport width or height, whichever is larger.
- 35. Flexbox
- 39. Flexbox
- 40. CSS Grid
- 46. Grid
- 47. Grid and flexbox Flexbox was designed for layout in one dimension, layout in a row or a column. Grid was designed for two- dimensional layout, layout in rows and columns at the same time. Grid can and should use Flexbox in its cells. developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Grid_Layout/Relationship_of_Grid_Layout Why is there a flexbox and a grid?
- 56. CSS and JavaScript working together is incredibly powerful and the right thing to do.
- 57. CSS can’t solve everything… speakerdeck.com/didoo/let-there-be-peace-on-css Cristiano Rastelli @areaweb
- 58. CSS and JavaScript working together in a non-module world… • Use CSS when you can using the things you saw here • If you need to communicate with CSS, consider changing Custom Properties • If that’s not an option apply classes to parent elements using classList. • As a very last resort, you can alter the style directly
- 59. CSS and JavaScript working together in a non-module world… youtube.com/watch?v=kZOJCVvyF-4
- 60. CSS and JavaScript working together in a non-module world… youtube.com/watch?v=kZOJCVvyF-4
- 61. Every style change has consequences… csstriggers.com Paul Lewis @aerotwist Das Surma @DasSurma
- 62. CSS is much more reliable than it used to be…
- 63. Users over authors over implementors over specifiers over theoretical purity… https://www.w3.org/TR/html-design-principles/
- 64. Our users deserve interfaces that are smooth, reliable and don’t kill their batteries. So, consider CSS a bit more…
- 65. You can be lazy and build on the work of the community…
- 66. Super inspiring and highly active CSS folk!