CSS Frameworks for React

Introduction

CSS frameworks play a crucial role in simplifying the styling process in web development. When it comes to building robust and visually appealing React applications, the right CSS framework can significantly enhance productivity and maintainability. So, we should use CSS frameworks to create react applications.

Overview of CSS Frameworks for React

React has emerged as one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for building user interfaces. When it comes to styling React applications, CSS frameworks are a convenient and efficient way to style and design your React applications. So, Instead of using CSS, you can use CSS frameworks to give styles in React.

CSS frameworks have pre-built styles and components, so instead of applying styles to each element separately in CSS, you can easily style using CSS frameworks. Pre-built styles are stored in classes, so we can insert styles by calling the class name.

Importance of CSS frameworks

React doesn’t provide built-in styling capabilities. While you can use plain CSS to style your React components, using CSS frameworks specifically designed for React offers several advantages, like:

• Consistency: CSS Frameworks offers you to predefined styles and design patterns, ensuring a cohesive and uniform look and feel. This consistency enhances the user experience and makes your application visually appealing.
• Rapid development: Enables developers to build applications more efficiently, reducing the time and effort required for styling and layout tasks. It promotes productivity by providing a set of ready-made components and styles that can be easily integrated, allowing developers to iterate quickly and deliver applications faster.
• Responsiveness: CSS framework which has the feature of responsiveness, provides components that automatically adjust their layout and behavior based on the screen size. We can create applications that are optimized for various devices, including mobile and desktop by using this feature.
• Accessibility: It refers to the consideration and implementation of design practices that ensure that web applications built using the framework are usable by individuals with disabilities. CSS frameworks can contribute to accessibility by incorporating features and techniques that enhance the usability of web applications.

Top 5 CSS Frameworks for React

We’ll cover the best CSS frameworks for React with an overview of their key features, highlighting their pros and cons, and presenting examples of projects that have successfully utilized each framework.

1. Material-UI

Overview and Key Features

Material-UI(MUI) is a complete UI component library. This library has been developed specifically for react development. It was developed following Google’s Material Design guidelines. So the React application we build using MUI will be Google’s Material as well. All UI components required for developing React website are pre-developed in MUI. As we use components in React, the styles/UI are stored in the component type in MUI.

It is an open-source framework so we can use it for free but we can buy some ready-made components. In this library, all the UI components required for a website have been categorized. So we can easily find and use the components as per your requirement.

Visit the official Material-UI and explore the various sections, including components, customization, theming, and styling. The documentation provides in-depth explanations, code examples, and usage guidelines for each Material-UI component.

Installation

Before installing MUI you need to create react app. Then you have to install MUI using the below npm or yarn command in the terminal of the react app project path.

npm

npm install @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled

yarn

yarn add @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled

For example:

"C:\Users\ADMIN\my-app>" npm install @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled

My react app name is “my-app”, so in the above, the place of quote is my react app path and I’m installing the MUI to “my-app” react app. So, like this, you can also install “MUI” to your React app.

Learning

Before diving into Material-UI, ensure you have a good understanding of React. So you should Learn about React components, state management, props, and JSX syntax. Then learning Material-UI involves understanding its core concepts, exploring its components and features, and gaining hands-on experience in implementing it within React projects.

You can learn step by step with this youtube playlist: All concepts of Material UI.  This playlist consists of multiple videos, covering various aspects of Material-UI, starting from the basics and progressing to more advanced topics. It is advisable to follow the playlist in sequential order to build a solid foundation and gradually expand your knowledge.

Pros

• A comprehensive set of pre-designed components
• Supports theming and customization
• Strong community support
• Detailed documentation and active development

Cons

• Large bundle size
• The steep learning curve for beginners

Example Projects

You can create React admin with a profile dashboard, content, analytics, customization, etc by using React with Material-UI. You can get some ideas by checking out the below video.

And you can also Build a beautiful React Personal Resume and Portfolio with Material UI.

2. Tailwind CSS

Overview and Key Features:

Tailwind CSS is the utility-first CSS framework, which means that all the CSS classes we need are stored as utility classes. For example, we can center a text using the “text-center” utility class in tailwind css, so we don’t have to create a separate CSS class. It has a lot of libraries and ready-made components, so we can customize our designs more than component-based libraries. Developers can quickly prototype and build responsive designs without writing custom CSS using Tailwind CSS.

Installation

After creating your React app, you can install Tailwind CSS using the below command:

npm install -D tailwindcss

The official website has clearly explained step-by-step install Tailwind CSS in React.

Learning

You should study the extensive list of utility classes provided by Tailwind CSS and covering aspects like colors, spacing, typography, flexbox, grids, and more.

If you are a beginner, you can learn Tailwind CSS from scratch with this video:  Beginners course of tailwind css. This video tells coding along with the examples provided can give you a practical understanding of using Tailwind CSS in real-world scenarios. Remember to pause the video, experiment with the code, and customize the styles to solidify your learning.

Pros

• Highly customizable
• Lightweight and modular
• Rapid development with utility classes
• Excellent documentation

Cons:

• The steep learning curve for beginners
• Limited predefined components compared to other frameworks

Example Projects

We can build beautiful and professional landing pages using React with tailwind CSS the latest technologies.

We can easily create a responsive and attractive navbar with additional features by using Tailwind CSS. You can get some ideas by checking out the below playlist

3. Styled Components

Overview and Key Features

Style Components is a react library or well known as a CSS library which allows you to style individual components and apply them directly in your react application. It is a technology that I use in every single React project, so I 100% recommend it. If you’re a beginner in development, it isn’t really hard to understand. But the thing is there are so many different use cases or specific things that you will encounter as you create a react application.

Click this link to know more about Styled Components’ benefits and usage.

Installation

You can install styled-components to your react app by using the below npm command

npm install styled-components

Learning

You can learn styled-components with this playlist: React styled component. Following this playlist will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of Styled Components and how to use them effectively in React projects. Make sure to practice along with the examples, experiment with different styling scenarios, and apply the concepts in your own projects.

Pros

• Encapsulated and reusable components
• Dynamic styling based on props or state
• Supports theming and animations
• Excellent developer experience

Cons

• Requires JavaScript to render styles
• Limited visual editor support

Example Projects

You can create a responsive Sign In Page by using React with styled-components like:

4. Semantic UI

Overview and Key Features

Semantic UI is a comprehensive CSS framework for React that aims to provide natural language syntax and intuitive naming conventions. It offers a vast collection of pre-designed components, responsive layouts, and a theming system. Semantic UI emphasizes ease of use and readability.

Installation

You can install this framework to your react project by using the below npm or yarn

yarn add semantic-ui-react semantic-ui-css
Or NPM
npm install semantic-ui-react semantic-ui-css

After installation, you can import the minified CSS file in your app’s entry file by using the below command:

import 'semantic-ui-css/semantic.min.css'

Learning

You can learn semantic UI from scratch with this playlist: Semantic UI Tutorial. 

In this tutorial, they covered all features of semantic UI like creating buttons, icons, input and output forms, menus, accordtion, sidebar menu, dropdown designs, 3d transition, etc.

Pros

• Natural language syntax
• Extensive component library
• Theming capabilities
• Active community and regular updates

Cons

• Larger bundle size compared to some frameworks
• The steeper learning curve for beginners

Example Projects

You can create a register a user form by using react with semantic UI. You can get some ideas by checking out the below project video.

5. Bulma

Overview and Key Features

Bulma is a lightweight and responsive CSS framework for React that focuses on simplicity and flexibility. It provides a grid system, pre-designed components, and a comprehensive set of utility classes. Bulma emphasizes clean and intuitive syntax, making it easy to get started with styling React applications. Bulma CSS is just perfect, simple, easily customizable, and doesn’t impose Javascript implementations.

Installation

You can simply install Bulma by using below command line:

npm install bulma

Pros

• Lightweight and flexible
• Responsive design out-of-the-box
• Simple and intuitive syntax
• Active community support

Cons

• Limited customization options
• Relatively smaller ecosystem compared to other frameworks

Learning

This playlist provides you with the best way to learn Bulma framework with example codes: Learn bulma.

Remember, practice is key to mastering any framework or technology. So, as you progress, keep building projects, experimenting, and refining your skills with Bulma. Good luck with your learning journey!

Example Projects

You can create Admin Dashboard Template Design by watching the below video.