The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Bytes issue #121, published September 19, 2022, asked whether CSS-in-JS had peaked while spotlighting Token CSS, a then-in-progress library that paired design-token structure with the freedom to write custom CSS selectors. “Monthly donor to Big JavaScript” was a joke in the issue’s Cool Bits section—not a real organization or donation claim—and referred to Scott Jehl’s experiment on serving real HTML.
What was the main idea behind Bytes #121?
The issue’s lead feature was Token CSS, created by Nate Moore. Bytes described it as “Tailwind but for CSS”: a way to get consistency and structure associated with utility-first styling while still writing ordinary CSS selectors.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The pitch sat between two familiar preferences. Developers who like utility classes may value predictable design choices; developers who want to shape styles through their own selectors may prefer more direct CSS authoring. Token CSS aimed to bring those approaches together through reusable design tokens rather than requiring authors to choose only one.
What Token CSS offered in 2022
- It compiled tokens into standard CSS custom properties.
- Authors could work in
.cssfiles orstyletags. - Presets covered spacing, typography, colors, and other design-system needs.
- Tokens used an interoperable JSON structure, with the possibility of reuse across projects or libraries.
- A VS Code plugin provided IntelliSense, hover features, and syntax highlighting.
Bytes explicitly called the project a work in progress at publication. Bugs, missing features, and breaking changes were expected, so the issue’s description documents its 2022 state; it does not establish Token CSS’s current maintenance, feature set, or availability.
#1 Best Overall
Did Bytes #121 show that CSS-in-JS had peaked?
No. The issue raised “Has css-in-js peaked?” as a question and presented an approximate download comparison, not a controlled test or proof of a turning point. Its account of npmtrends.com said Tailwind weekly downloads had “almost doubled,” while Styled Components and Emotion were each growing at about 30%. Those figures were reported by Bytes in September 2022 and should not be read as current measurements.
The comparison put Styled Components and Emotion (both categorized as CSS-in-JS), Tailwind (utility CSS), and Bootstrap alongside one another. Bytes cautioned that these categories are not fully like-for-like and that the comparison excluded CDN downloads. Its interpretation was that the JavaScript ecosystem was growing, CSS-in-JS tools were still growing but more slowly, Tailwind was gaining ground, and better native CSS features might lead developers to choose platform capabilities over frameworks. Those were the newsletter’s takeaways at the time, not conclusions about the landscape today.
Rank #2
How should a developer choose among utility CSS, CSS-in-JS, and tokens?
The issue supplied no head-to-head evaluation, so its trends do not identify a universally best approach. The useful decision is how a styling method fits a project’s authoring habits and design-system needs.
- Authoring flexibility: Would the team rather compose utility classes, define styles in JavaScript, or write selectors in standard CSS?
- Consistency and structure: Does the project need shared spacing, color, and typography values to keep interfaces coherent?
- Token reuse: Would an interoperable token format help share design decisions across projects or libraries?
- Editor support: Which approach gives developers the autocomplete, hover information, and syntax assistance they actually use?
- Project fit: Consider existing architecture and team conventions rather than treating download growth as a proxy for suitability.
- Platform features: Decide whether native CSS capabilities meet the need before adding framework-specific machinery.
What else did the issue cover?
Deployment practices and a sponsored React Native item
Bytes promoted a free, 60-page Sleuth guide titled “Ultimate Guide to Going from Zero to One Hundred Deploys a Day,” written by Sleuth CEO and co-founder Dylan Etkin. The newsletter described it as covering how large technology companies moved from weekly to more frequent deployments and offering a roadmap for applying related practices. That is the newsletter’s description; it does not establish the guide’s current availability.
A trend section labeled “Sponsored by Stream” said Stream had launched version 5 of its React Native SDK with offline support and enhanced debugging capabilities. This is a sponsor claim reported in September 2022, not a statement about the SDK’s current version or features.
Cool Bits
The section included François Zaninotto’s article “React I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down”; CarbonQA developer QA services, marked sponsored; Scott Jehl’s experiment “Will Serving Real HTML Content Make A Website Faster?”; a Minecraft-in-Minecraft video; a QR-code explainer; TinyBase 2.0 and its TinyQL module; and OpenAI Whisper. The “monthly donor to Big JavaScript” wording was a humorous reference to Scott Jehl’s HTML-serving experiment.
A reported Rust comment, not company policy
The issue identified Mark Russinovich as Microsoft Azure CTO and SysInternals creator, and quoted his tweet: “it’s time to halt starting any new projects in C/C++ and use Rust.” Bytes reported a tweet; it did not present a formal Microsoft policy.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
