Managing CSS Styles in React: A Comparison of Three Libraries
When it comes to managing CSS styles in React, things can quickly become complicated. Global style definitions, !important rules everywhere, and low flexibility when reusing components are just a few of the problems you may encounter. To address these issues, alternative approaches to traditional CSS files have emerged. In this article, we’ll explore three popular libraries for managing CSS styles in React: Radium, Aphrodite, and Emotion.
The Problem with Traditional CSS
Traditional CSS files can become cumbersome and difficult to manage, especially in larger applications. With so many styles defined globally, it’s easy to accidentally override styles or introduce conflicts. Moreover, traditional CSS doesn’t provide an easy way to reuse styles or create modular, self-contained components.
Introducing Radium, Aphrodite, and Emotion
Radium, Aphrodite, and Emotion are three popular libraries designed to make managing CSS styles in React easier and more efficient. Each library takes a different approach to solving the problems associated with traditional CSS files.
Radium
Radium is the most popular of the three libraries, with over 10,000 GitHub stars. It’s a higher-order component (HOC) that processes the style attribute of components, adding handlers for interactive styles like hover and focus. Radium also provides support for media queries and keyframes.
Example Usage:
“`jsx
import Radium from ‘radium’;
const styles = {
panel: {
backgroundColor: ‘#f0f0f0’,
‘:hover’: {
backgroundColor: ‘#e0e0e0’
}
}
};
const Panel = ({ children }) => (
);
export default Radium(Panel);
“`
Aphrodite
Aphrodite takes a different approach than Radium. Instead of using a HOC, Aphrodite uses a function called StyleSheet.create to create a stylesheet object. This object is then used to style components.
Example Usage:
“`jsx
import { StyleSheet } from ‘aphrodite’;
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
panel: {
backgroundColor: ‘#f0f0f0’,
‘:hover’: {
backgroundColor: ‘#e0e0e0’
}
}
});
const Panel = ({ children }) => (
);
“`
Emotion
Emotion is the newest of the three libraries, but it’s already gained significant traction. Emotion uses a tagged template literal syntax to create styles, making it easy to write modular, self-contained styles.
Example Usage:
“`jsx
import styled from ‘@emotion/styled’;
const Panel = styled.div
background-color: #f0f0f0;
&:hover {
background-color: #e0e0e0;
}
“`
Comparison of Features
| Feature | Radium | Aphrodite | Emotion |
| — | — | — | — |
| Higher-Order Component | | | |
| StyleSheet Object | | | |
| Tagged Template Literal Syntax | | | |
| Media Query Support | | | |
| Keyframe Support | | | |
| Theme Support | | | |
Conclusion
Each of the three libraries has its own strengths and weaknesses. Radium is a popular choice due to its ease of use and wide range of features. Aphrodite provides a more functional programming approach to styling, while Emotion’s tagged template literal syntax makes it easy to write modular styles. Ultimately, the choice of library depends on your specific needs and preferences.
