@tailwindcss/typography vs typestyle
CSS Utility Libraries Comparison
1 Year
@tailwindcss/typographytypestyle
What's CSS Utility Libraries?

CSS utility libraries are designed to simplify the styling process in web development by providing pre-defined classes and styles that can be easily applied to HTML elements. These libraries help developers maintain consistency, reduce the amount of custom CSS needed, and speed up the development process by allowing for rapid prototyping and iteration. They often come with a set of design principles that promote a clean and maintainable codebase, making it easier to manage styles across large projects.

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@tailwindcss/typography2,304,0375,154110 kB162 months agoMIT
typestyle67,4773,071115 kB25-MIT
Feature Comparison: @tailwindcss/typography vs typestyle

Styling Approach

  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    @tailwindcss/typography provides a set of pre-defined typography styles that can be easily applied to HTML elements using utility classes. This approach allows for rapid styling without the need for custom CSS, promoting a consistent design language across the application.

  • typestyle:

    Typestyle allows developers to write CSS in a JavaScript-like syntax, enabling dynamic styling based on application state. This approach is particularly useful for projects that require styles to change based on user interactions or application logic.

Customization

  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    @tailwindcss/typography is highly customizable, allowing developers to extend or modify the default typography styles to fit the specific needs of their project. This flexibility is achieved through Tailwind's configuration file, where developers can define custom font sizes, line heights, and other typographic properties.

  • typestyle:

    Typestyle offers customization through its API, allowing developers to create reusable style functions and apply them conditionally. This makes it easy to maintain a consistent style while adapting to different contexts within the application.

TypeScript Support

  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    While @tailwindcss/typography can be used with TypeScript projects, it primarily focuses on CSS utility classes and does not provide built-in TypeScript support. Developers may need to manage type definitions separately when integrating with TypeScript.

  • typestyle:

    Typestyle is designed with TypeScript in mind, providing full type safety and autocompletion features. This makes it a great choice for TypeScript projects, as it helps catch errors at compile time and improves developer productivity.

Learning Curve

  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    The learning curve for @tailwindcss/typography is relatively low, especially for developers familiar with Tailwind CSS. Its utility-first approach allows for quick adoption, but understanding the full range of typography options may take some time.

  • typestyle:

    Typestyle may have a steeper learning curve for developers who are not familiar with writing CSS in a JavaScript-like syntax. However, once understood, it can significantly enhance the flexibility and maintainability of styles.

Community and Ecosystem

  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    @tailwindcss/typography benefits from the large Tailwind CSS community, which provides extensive resources, plugins, and support. This makes it easier for developers to find solutions and share best practices.

  • typestyle:

    Typestyle has a smaller community compared to Tailwind CSS, which may result in fewer resources and plugins available. However, it is still a valuable tool for developers looking for a TypeScript-oriented styling solution.

How to Choose: @tailwindcss/typography vs typestyle
  • @tailwindcss/typography:

    Choose @tailwindcss/typography if you are looking for a utility-first approach to styling that emphasizes responsive design and customization. It is ideal for projects that require a consistent typographic scale and want to leverage Tailwind CSS's utility classes for rapid development.

  • typestyle:

    Choose typestyle if you prefer a TypeScript-friendly solution that allows you to write CSS in a more programmatic way. It is suitable for projects that require dynamic styling capabilities and want to take advantage of TypeScript's type safety and autocompletion features.

README for @tailwindcss/typography

Tailwind CSS Typography

The official Tailwind CSS Typography plugin provides a set of prose classes you can use to add beautiful typographic defaults to any vanilla HTML you don’t control, like HTML rendered from Markdown, or pulled from a CMS.

<article class="prose lg:prose-xl">{{ markdown }}</article>

To see what it looks like in action, check out our live demo on Tailwind Play.


Installation

Install the plugin from npm:

npm install -D @tailwindcss/typography

Then add the plugin to your tailwind.config.js file:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    // ...
  },
  plugins: [
    require('@tailwindcss/typography'),
    // ...
  ],
}

Basic usage

Now you can use the prose classes to add sensible typography styles to any vanilla HTML:

<article class="prose lg:prose-xl">
  <h1>Garlic bread with cheese: What the science tells us</h1>
  <p>
    For years parents have espoused the health benefits of eating garlic bread with cheese to their
    children, with the food earning such an iconic status in our culture that kids will often dress
    up as warm, cheesy loaf for Halloween.
  </p>
  <p>
    But a recent study shows that the celebrated appetizer may be linked to a series of rabies cases
    springing up around the country.
  </p>
  <!-- ... -->
</article>

Choosing a gray scale

This plugin includes a modifier class for each of the five gray scales Tailwind includes by default so you can easily style your content to match the grays you're using in your project.

<article class="prose prose-slate">{{ markdown }}</article>

Here are the classes that are generated using a totally default Tailwind CSS v2.0 build:

| Class | Gray scale | | ------------------------ | ---------- | | prose-gray (default) | Gray | | prose-slate | Slate | | prose-zinc | Zinc | | prose-neutral | Neutral | | prose-stone | Stone |

Modifier classes are designed to be used with the multi-class modifier pattern and must be used in conjunction with the base prose class.

[!NOTE] Always include the prose class when adding a gray scale modifier

<article class="prose prose-stone">{{ markdown }}</article>

To learn about creating your own color themes, read the adding custom color themes documentation.

Applying a type scale

Size modifiers allow you to adjust the overall size of your typography for different contexts.

<article class="prose prose-xl">{{ markdown }}</article>

Five different typography sizes are included out of the box:

| Class | Body font size | | ------------------------ | ----------------- | | prose-sm | 0.875rem (14px) | | prose-base (default) | 1rem (16px) | | prose-lg | 1.125rem (18px) | | prose-xl | 1.25rem (20px) | | prose-2xl | 1.5rem (24px) |

These can be used in combination with Tailwind's breakpoint modifiers to change the overall font size of a piece of content at different viewport sizes:

<article class="prose md:prose-lg lg:prose-xl">{{ markdown }}</article>

Everything about the provided size modifiers has been hand-tuned by professional designers to look as beautiful as possible, including the relationships between font sizes, heading spacing, code block padding, and more.

Size modifiers are designed to be used with the multi-class modifier pattern and must be used in conjunction with the base prose class.

[!NOTE] Always include the prose class when adding a size modifier

<article class="prose prose-lg">{{ markdown }}</article>

To learn about customizing the included type scales, read the documentation on customizing the CSS.

Adapting to dark mode

Each default color theme includes a hand-designed dark mode version that you can trigger by adding the prose-invert class:

<article class="prose dark:prose-invert">{{ markdown }}</article>

To learn about creating your own color themes, read the adding custom color themes documentation.

Element modifiers

Use element modifiers to customize the style of individual elements in your content directly in your HTML:

<article class="prose prose-img:rounded-xl prose-headings:underline prose-a:text-blue-600">
  {{ markdown }}
</article>

This makes it easy to do things like style links to match your brand, add a border radius to images, and tons more.

Here's a complete list of available element modifiers:

| Modifier | Target | | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | | prose-headings:{utility} | h1, h2, h3, h4, th | | prose-lead:{utility} | [class~="lead"] | | prose-h1:{utility} | h1 | | prose-h2:{utility} | h2 | | prose-h3:{utility} | h3 | | prose-h4:{utility} | h4 | | prose-p:{utility} | p | | prose-a:{utility} | a | | prose-blockquote:{utility} | blockquote | | prose-figure:{utility} | figure | | prose-figcaption:{utility} | figcaption | | prose-strong:{utility} | strong | | prose-em:{utility} | em | | prose-kbd:{utility} | kbd | | prose-code:{utility} | code | | prose-pre:{utility} | pre | | prose-ol:{utility} | ol | | prose-ul:{utility} | ul | | prose-li:{utility} | li | | prose-table:{utility} | table | | prose-thead:{utility} | thead | | prose-tr:{utility} | tr | | prose-th:{utility} | th | | prose-td:{utility} | td | | prose-img:{utility} | img | | prose-video:{utility} | video | | prose-hr:{utility} | hr |

When stacking these modifiers with other modifiers like hover, you most likely want the other modifier to come first:

<article class="prose prose-a:text-blue-600 hover:prose-a:text-blue-500">{{ markdown }}</article>

Read the Tailwind CSS documentation on ordering stacked modifiers to learn more.

Overriding max-width

Each size modifier comes with a baked in max-width designed to keep the content as readable as possible. This isn't always what you want though, and sometimes you'll want the content to just fill the width of its container.

In those cases, all you need to do is add max-w-none to your content to override the embedded max-width:

<div class="grid grid-cols-4">
  <div class="col-span-1">
    <!-- ... -->
  </div>
  <div class="col-span-3">
    <article class="prose max-w-none">{{ markdown }}</article>
  </div>
</div>

Advanced topics

Undoing typography styles

If you have a block of markup embedded in some content that shouldn't inherit the prose styles, use the not-prose class to sandbox it:

<article class="prose">
  <h1>My Heading</h1>
  <p>...</p>

  <div class="not-prose">
    <!-- Some example or demo that needs to be prose-free -->
  </div>

  <p>...</p>
  <!-- ... -->
</article>

Note that you can't nest new prose instances within a not-prose block at this time.

Adding custom color themes

You can create your own color theme by adding a new key in the typography section of your tailwind.config.js file and providing your colors under the css key:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      typography: ({ theme }) => ({
        pink: {
          css: {
            '--tw-prose-body': theme('colors.pink[800]'),
            '--tw-prose-headings': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-lead': theme('colors.pink[700]'),
            '--tw-prose-links': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-bold': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-counters': theme('colors.pink[600]'),
            '--tw-prose-bullets': theme('colors.pink[400]'),
            '--tw-prose-hr': theme('colors.pink[300]'),
            '--tw-prose-quotes': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-quote-borders': theme('colors.pink[300]'),
            '--tw-prose-captions': theme('colors.pink[700]'),
            '--tw-prose-code': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-pre-code': theme('colors.pink[100]'),
            '--tw-prose-pre-bg': theme('colors.pink[900]'),
            '--tw-prose-th-borders': theme('colors.pink[300]'),
            '--tw-prose-td-borders': theme('colors.pink[200]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-body': theme('colors.pink[200]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-headings': theme('colors.white'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-lead': theme('colors.pink[300]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-links': theme('colors.white'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-bold': theme('colors.white'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-counters': theme('colors.pink[400]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-bullets': theme('colors.pink[600]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-hr': theme('colors.pink[700]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-quotes': theme('colors.pink[100]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-quote-borders': theme('colors.pink[700]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-captions': theme('colors.pink[400]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-code': theme('colors.white'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-pre-code': theme('colors.pink[300]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-pre-bg': 'rgb(0 0 0 / 50%)',
            '--tw-prose-invert-th-borders': theme('colors.pink[600]'),
            '--tw-prose-invert-td-borders': theme('colors.pink[700]'),
          },
        },
      }),
    },
  },
  plugins: [
    require('@tailwindcss/typography'),
    // ...
  ],
}

See our internal style definitions for some more examples.

Changing the default class name

If you need to use a class name other than prose for any reason, you can do so using the className option when registering the plugin:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    // ...
  },
  plugins: [
    require('@tailwindcss/typography')({
      className: 'wysiwyg',
    }),
  ]
  ...
}

Now every instance of prose in the default class names will be replaced by your custom class name:

<article class="wysiwyg wysiwyg-slate lg:wysiwyg-xl">
  <h1>My Heading</h1>
  <p>...</p>

  <div class="not-wysiwyg">
    <!-- Some example or demo that needs to be prose-free -->
  </div>

  <p>...</p>
  <!-- ... -->
</article>

Customizing the CSS

If you want to customize the raw CSS generated by this plugin, add your overrides under the typography key in the theme section of your tailwind.config.js file:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      typography: {
        DEFAULT: {
          css: {
            color: '#333',
            a: {
              color: '#3182ce',
              '&:hover': {
                color: '#2c5282',
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  plugins: [
    require('@tailwindcss/typography'),
    // ...
  ],
}

Like with all theme customizations in Tailwind, you can also define the typography key as a function if you need access to the theme helper:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      typography: (theme) => ({
        DEFAULT: {
          css: {
            color: theme('colors.gray.800'),

            // ...
          },
        },
      }),
    },
  },
  plugins: [
    require('@tailwindcss/typography'),
    // ...
  ],
}

Customizations should be applied to a specific modifier like DEFAULT or xl, and must be added under the css property. Customizations are authored in the same CSS-in-JS syntax used to write Tailwind plugins.

See the default styles for this plugin for more in-depth examples of configuring each modifier.


Community

For help, discussion about best practices, or any other conversation that would benefit from being searchable:

Discuss the Tailwind CSS Typography plugin on GitHub

For casual chit-chat with others using the framework:

Join the Tailwind CSS Discord Server