tailwindcss/integrations
Adam Wathan c50de9384a
Replace default explicit spacing scale with multiplier system (#14857)
This PR replaces the default spacing scale (`--spacing-*`) with a
generative system based on a default spacing _unit_.

Instead of the default theme containing values like `--spacing-4`,
`--spacing-6`, `--spacing-8`, etc., instead we just define a single
`--spacing` value:

```css
@theme {
  --spacing: 0.25rem;
}
```

Utilities like `px-4` are derived from this unit by multiplying it by
the value in the utility (4 in this case):

```css
.px-4 {
  padding-inline: calc(var(--spacing) * 4);
}
```

The biggest consequence of this change is that every value is available
now, rather than just the explicitly configured values.

This means utilities like `px-42` will work now, whereas prior to this
PR only `px-40` and `px-44` were valid utilities. I personally found it
very difficult to know which values actually existed at the higher end
of the scale without IntelliSense, and in practice even when working
with a skilled designer like [Steve](https://x.com/steveschoger) who
helped design Tailwind's default spacing scale, I'd very often need to
break out of it to implement a design, and trying to round to a value
that was in the scale made the design worse, not better.

This PR allows you to use any whole number, as well as decimal numbers
that are multiples of `0.25` to ensure classes like `px-1.5` continue to
work. While this means you can now technically do things like
`pt-97.25`, I think the presence of the fractional value will be enough
of a signal to developers that they are doing something a little
unusual, and they can use their judgment as to whether they are making
the right decision or not.

I'll update this PR with a lot more detail when I have a chance, as
there are a few other things to explain like:

- Unifying all of the values for
width/min-width/max-width/height/min-height/max-height utilities
- Deriving numeric line-height values from the spacing multiplier
instead of a separate line-height scale
- Using `--spacing: initial` to disable the multiplier
- How you can still use an explicit spacing scale and ignore this change
- How we plan to use IntelliSense to surface a more curated set of
spacing values even if smaller increments work when you type them
explicitly

---------

Co-authored-by: Adam Wathan <4323180+adamwathan@users.noreply.github.com>
2024-11-05 15:22:50 -05:00
..
2024-11-04 13:07:25 -05:00