Discussion: Tailwind modifiers

[thejackshelton]

Kobalte does something interesting. You add a plugin to your tailwind config, and the modifiers are changed:
https://kobalte.dev/docs/core/overview/styling#using-the-tailwindcss-plugin

This makes styling component states much cleaner. Thoughts?

[maiieul]

Looking into this right now, I don't think data-[closing]:fade-out data-[open]:fade-in is any worse than ui-closing:fade-out ui-open:fade-in. Maybe it's even better, because not only it means no external plugin to install, but it is also more explicit to what is being done by the headless component.

[maiieul]

One "argument" in favor of using data-[state=...]: is that sometimes it could be about something else than an action. For example shadcn and radix have the "side" attribute such as data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-2 (scroll right to see more):

<SelectPrimitive.Content
      ref={ref}
      className={cn(
        "relative z-50 max-h-96 min-w-[8rem] overflow-hidden rounded-md border bg-popover text-popover-foreground shadow-md data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95 data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-2 data-[side=left]:slide-in-from-right-2 data-[side=right]:slide-in-from-left-2 data-[side=top]:slide-in-from-bottom-2",
        position === "popper" &&
          "data-[side=bottom]:translate-y-1 data-[side=left]:-translate-x-1 data-[side=right]:translate-x-1 data-[side=top]:-translate-y-1",
        className
      )}
      position={position}
      {...props}
    >
    ```
    
    but if it's an exception or there are only a few exceptions like that, then it's probably better to combine.

[shairez]

@maiieul from what I understand - it'll always be data-

the tailwind plugin will just make it easier for TW users to write ui- instead of data-

did I understand it correctly?

[maiieul]

Hmmm I'm not sure if the plugin is just an add-on or if it's required. But even if it's just an add-on to avoid the bracket syntax, I'm not sure I prefer ui- to data -[]..

Here's the tailwind docs: https://tailwindcss.com/docs/hover-focus-and-other-states#data-attributes

[shairez]

I personally prefer the least amount of characters when possible.
The tradeoff is to depend on another plugin and it's less obivous that the mapping is between ui- to data-[]

I'm on the fence
WDYT @thejackshelton ?