--- title: Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now | daily.dev description: A developer argues that Tailwind CSS made sense when it launched but modern CSS features like nesting, functions, and mixins have reduced its necessity. They... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now | daily.dev og:description: A developer argues that Tailwind CSS made sense when it launched but modern CSS features like nesting, functions, and mixins have reduced its necessity. They... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/peaMJGK0d.png og:image:alt: Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- [Game Engineering Podcast](https://daily.dev/sources/game%5Feng%5Fpodcast) [Watch video](https://api.daily.dev/r/peaMJGK0d) # [Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now](https://api.daily.dev/r/peaMJGK0d "Go to post") This title could be clearer and more informative. Try out Clickbait Shield for free (5 uses left this month). A developer argues that Tailwind CSS made sense when it launched but modern CSS features like nesting, functions, and mixins have reduced its necessity. They introduce Stellar CSS, a parametric CSS tool inspired by 3D art software like Blender, which offers a live-editing experience where changes in the editor instantly reflect on the site. Stellar integrates ESBuild natively without requiring Node or npm, generates color themes from images in milliseconds, and aims to be a small, fast binary. The project is part of a nonprofit with a pro lifetime license model, positioned as a more sustainable alternative to Tailwind's business model, which struggled despite widespread adoption. [#webdev](/tags/webdev "Check all #webdev posts")[#css](/tags/css "Check all #css posts")[#tailwind-css](/tags/tailwind-css "Check all #tailwind-css posts") Mar 02 • 5m watch time 60 Upvotes17 Comments Comment Bookmark Copy Share your thoughts Post [](https://daily.dev/sources/game%5Feng%5Fpodcast) [Game Engineering Podcast](https://daily.dev/sources/game%5Feng%5Fpodcast "https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast") 27 Followers • 142 Upvotes #### Would you recommend this post? Copy link WhatsApp Facebook X New Squad Copy linkShare with your friends 60 17 ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d"},"datePublished":"2026-03-02T17:30:03.160Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T15:19:29.603Z","description":"A developer argues that Tailwind CSS made sense when it launched but modern CSS features like nesting, functions, and mixins have reduced its necessity. They...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0YeqQcLarKQ/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0YeqQcLarKQ/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Game Engineering Podcast","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Game Engineering Podcast","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--8NEw2a0s--/f_auto/v1735917032/logos/game_eng_podcast","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast"},"commentCount":17,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":60},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":17}],"keywords":"webdev,css,tailwind-css","timeRequired":"PT5M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now","description":"A developer argues that Tailwind CSS made sense when it launched but modern CSS features like nesting, functions, and mixins have reduced its necessity. They...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0YeqQcLarKQ/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-03-02T17:30:03.160Z","duration":"PT5M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/peaMJGK0d","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/0YeqQcLarKQ"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Game Engineering Podcast","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why Tailwind doesn't make much sense now"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-tailwind-doesn-t-make-much-sense-now-peamjgk0d","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Ahhh, so we should learn another great awesome framework / tool, this time a CSS one that’s far better than the industry standard is, right? Thank you so much for telling us. I’ll have a look at that right never 👍","datePublished":"2026-03-12T08:54:19.834Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/peaMJGK0d#c-BIvjd5Prp","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Václav Mucha","url":"https://daily.dev/vavaxx2","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GhbL0a_Vvn97ytk5FVy6PDtBUybOFnFHynlbLOC8wI=s100"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":22}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I still use it","datePublished":"2026-03-09T21:07:26.560Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/peaMJGK0d#c-py9bYeVnd","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rene Yibowei","url":"https://daily.dev/qwertydiy","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--QlvtioAW--/f_auto/v1746524446/avatars/avatar_aTUl3chxFyPngKtboGisL"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":14}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Tailwind never made sense, but still it somehow made my life so much better.","datePublished":"2026-03-12T09:48:26.622Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/peaMJGK0d#c-uqx8lOG15","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gaute Magnussen","url":"https://daily.dev/gautema","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--cb7x1mno--/f_auto/v1728978621/avatars/avatar_FiBPwluDRGLmgCLiLeykw"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":12}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I don’t see how modern CSS replaces tailwind. It possibly replaces SASS/SCSS but tailwind is just a faster way to prototype layouts.","datePublished":"2026-03-15T18:13:59.257Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/peaMJGK0d#c-jZB0dQOf9","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel Malmgren de Oliveira","url":"https://daily.dev/danmalmx","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/90779653?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":8}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"The Tailwind critique is fair but slightly misdirected. Native CSS nesting and custom properties reduce the need for preprocessors like SASS — but Tailwind’s staying power was never really about features, it was about colocation and design constraints. Utility classes keep styling decisions close to the markup and force you into a system. That’s a workflow choice, not a technical limitation native CSS replaces.\nStellar’s interesting angle is the Blender-inspired live editing and the no-Node binary. The tooling story in CSS land has been needlessly heavy for years — if Stellar genuinely runs without npm and ships fast, that’s a real quality-of-life win for smaller projects and non-JS ecosystems.\nThe nonprofit + lifetime license model is the sleeper detail here. Tailwind’s monetization struggle despite massive adoption is a real cautionary tale. Betting on a pro license over VC growth-at-all-costs is contrarian but arguably more honest about what a CSS tool actually is: infrastructure, not a platform.","datePublished":"2026-03-13T14:35:39.640Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/peaMJGK0d#c-A5g64jF2A","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gabu Rayon Dev","url":"https://daily.dev/gaburayondev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5hPC52y_--/f_auto/v1773412842/avatars/avatar_8fkdziGASnSSBES6c4Ml9?_a=BAMAMiiu0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":8}}]} ```