Baldur Bjarnason
“Adactio: Links—No, Utility Classes Aren’t the Same As Inline Styles - frontstuff” “Anyway, if you removed every instance of the word “utility” from this article, it would still work.” adactio.com/links/18141
This is supposed to be a defence of utility classes …but it’s actually a great explanation of why classes in general are a great mechanism for styling.
I don’t think anyone has ever seriously suggested using inline styles—the actual disagreement is about how ludicrously rigid and wasteful the class names dictated by something like Tailwind are. When people criticise those classes they aren’t advocating for inline styles—they’re advocating for better class names and making more use of the power of the class selector in CSS, not less.
Anyway, if you removed every instance of the word “utility” from this article, it would still work.
“Adactio: Links—No, Utility Classes Aren’t the Same As Inline Styles - frontstuff” “Anyway, if you removed every instance of the word “utility” from this article, it would still work.” adactio.com/links/18141
Agree with this. When I see a long line of utility classes in the HTML, my eyes and brain hurts almost as much as when I see a long line of inline styles in that same HTML. adactio.com/links/18141
Think you know about styling lists with CSS? Think again!
This is just a taste of the kind of in-depth knowledge that Rich will be beaming directly into our brains at Web Day Out…
There have been so many advances in HTML, CSS and browser support over the past few years. These are enabling phenomenal creativity and refinement in web typography, and I’ve got a mere 28 minutes to tell you all about it.
I’ve been talking to Rich about his Web Day Out talk, and let me tell you, you don’t want to miss it!
It’s gonna be a wild ride! Join me at Web Day Out in Brighton on 12 March 2026. Use JOIN_RICH to get 10% off and you’ll also get a free online ticket for State of the Browser.
Jemima runs through just some of the exciting new additions to CSS:
Replacing 150+ lines of JavaScript with just a few CSS features is genuinely wild. We’re able to achieve the same amount of complexity that we’ve always had, but now it’s a lot less work to do so.
And Jemima will be opening the show at Web Day Out in Brighton on the 12th of March if you want to hear more of this!
Some neat CSS from Tess that’s a great example of progressive enhancement; these book covers look good in all browsers, but they look even better in some.
Here’s a little snippet of CSS that solves a problem I’ve never considered:
The problem is that Live Text, “Select text in images to copy or take action,” is enabled by default on iOS devices (Settings → General → Language & Region), which can interfere with the contextual menu in Safari. Pressing down on the above link may select the text inside the image instead of selecting the link URL.
A redesign with modern CSS.
You might want to use `display: contents` …maybe.
The joy of getting hands-on with HTML and CSS.
Separate your concerns.
Trying to understand a different mindset to mine.