How Tailwind CSS Completely Changed My Development Workflow
From skeptic to convert — why utility-first CSS made me faster, more consistent, and happier as a developer.
I resisted Tailwind CSS for a long time. Writing classes like 'flex items-center justify-between px-4 py-2' felt wrong. I was a semantic CSS purist — BEM naming, component stylesheets, the whole lot. Then I tried Tailwind on a real project and never looked back.
The speed difference is dramatic. What used to take me 20 minutes of switching between HTML and CSS files now takes 5 minutes of writing classes directly in my JSX. No naming debates, no specificity wars, no dead CSS accumulating in my stylesheets.
Consistency is the hidden superpower. With Tailwind's design tokens — spacing scale, colour palette, typography — every project automatically has a coherent visual system. My clients get better-looking sites because I'm working within constraints that enforce good design.
The combination of Tailwind with shadcn/ui components is particularly powerful. I get accessible, well-designed components that I own and can customise, styled with the same utility classes I use everywhere else. It's the best component library experience I've had.
For anyone still on the fence: try it on one real project. Not a tutorial, not a todo app — a real client project. You'll feel the productivity difference within the first day.
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