Milligram CSS vs. Tachyons
By SW Habitation
Milligram CSS
Tachyons
You know how building a website can feel like a lot, especially when you’re trying to style every little thing yourself? Buttons, forms, layouts… it adds up fast. That’s where UI frameworks really save the day. They give you a bunch of premade design elements that you can just drop in and go. It’s like having a design starter pack that helps your site look clean and professional, without spending forever tweaking the details.
What is Milligram CSS?
Milligram CSS is a minimalist CSS framework that weighs in at just 2KB gzipped, making it one of the lightest options available for developers who value speed and efficiency. It follows a clean, modern design approach with sensible defaults, so you can get started quickly without having to overwrite a ton of styles. Milligram uses the flexible grid system powered by Flexbox, making layouts intuitive and responsive right out of the box.
What makes Milligram stand out is its balance between simplicity and usability. Unlike heavier frameworks, it doesn’t come bundled with unnecessary UI components, which keeps your project lean and fast.
Key Features of Milligram CSS
- Easy to Use: Available via npm, Yarn, Bower, CDN, or CLI starter projects for quick setup.
- Roboto Typography: Uses Google’s Roboto font for clean text styling; easy to override if needed.
- Minimal Reset + Base Styles: Comes with normalization and essential styles for clean coding.
- Super Lightweight: Just ~2 KB when gzipped, making it lightning-fast.
- Essential UI Elements: Includes styles for typography, buttons, lists, forms, tables, blockquotes, grids, and utilities.
- Flexbox Grid System: Responsive, flexible layout using modern Flexbox, with customizable max width.
Advantages of Milligram CSS
- Ultra Lightweight: Minimal file size ensures speedy load times.
- Quick Setup: Plug-and-play means just include the CSS and you're good to go.
- Clean Base Style: Neutral, design-agnostic foundation for custom styling.
- Modern Layouts: Flexbox grid offers flexibility and responsiveness.
- Ideal for Prototypes: Great when you need a fast, clean UI baseline.
- No Build Required: Works without any preprocessing or configuration.
Disadvantages of Milligram CSS
- Not for Complex UIs: Best suited for simple layouts, not rich interactive interfaces.
- Limited Components: Does not include advanced UI like modals, dropdowns, or navbars.
- Smaller Ecosystem: Fewer templates, plugins, or community resources available.
- No JavaScript Support: Pure CSS, interactivity must be built separately.
- Typography Dependency: Defaults to Roboto, adds an external request unless changed.
What isTachyons?
Tachyons is a functional/atomic CSS framework that uses small, reusable utility classes. Instead of big UI components or deeply nested CSS, Tachyons encourages developers to style elements using many tiny, single-purpose classes.
Let's check by the example,
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<button class="f6 link dim br3 ph3 pv2 mb2 dib white bg-dark-blue">
Click Me!
</button>Here, each class f6, br3, ph3 controls a specific CSS property like font size, border radius, padding, etc. This modular approach makes styling predictable and reusable.
Tachyons was one of the innovator of the utility-first CSS movement—it influenced modern frameworks like Tailwind.
Key Features of Tachyons
- Atomic CSS Classes: Every class does one thing (e.g., pa3 = padding).
- Responsive Utilities: Classes adapt to multiple screen sizes.
- Small Bundle Size: Around 14KB minified & gzipped.
- Performance-Oriented: Encourages minimal CSS output.
- Accessible Defaults: Typography and spacing built for readability.
- Framework-Free: Works with plain HTML, React, Vue, or any frontend.
- Rapid Prototyping: Compose UIs quickly with utility classes.
Advantages of Tachyons
- Stable: Mature and widely battle-tested since 2015.
- Highly Composable: Mix classes freely to achieve complex designs.
- Consistent: Predictable, reusable naming system.
- Fast & Lightweight: Tiny CSS footprint.
- Great for Prototypes: Quickly test ideas without writing custom CSS.
- Utility-First Approach: No deep CSS overrides needed.
Disadvantages of Tachyons
- Smaller Community: Fewer themes, templates, and ecosystem resources.
- Messy HTML: Can lead to class-heavy markup that’s harder to read.
- No Components: You must build everything (buttons, navbars, modals) manually.
- Learning Curve: Class names (pa3, f5) are shorthand and non-intuitive for beginners.
- Not Actively Maintained: Less frequent updates compared to newer frameworks.
Comparison Between Milligram CSS vs Tachyons
Use Cases of Milligram CSS
- Landing Pages: Fast, mobile-friendly, and performance-focused.
- Educational Projects: Beginner-friendly for learning CSS.
- Minimalist Web Apps: For simple, fast, and lightweight projects.
- Quick Prototyping: Build clean UI prototypes quickly.
- Performance-First Sites: Perfect for JAMstack/static sites.
Use Cases of Tachyons
- Rapid prototyping and MVPs.
- Building custom UIs without depending on pre-styled components.
- Designers who want total control over design instead of prebuilt themes.
- Developers who like atomic/functional CSS.
- Lightweight projects where performance is critical.
Other Resources
Conclusion
UI frameworks make building a polished website way easier. Whether you're working on something simple or a big project, they help you get things looking just right without having to stress over every little design decision. With ready-to-use components, responsive layouts, and modern styles, you can build faster and smarter.
So, pick one that works for you, and start creating a site that looks amazing from the get-go.
Frequently asked questions
Is Milligram completely free?
Yes, Milligram is open-source and distributed under the MIT license.
How do I include Milligram in my project?
Install via npm/yarn/bower, use the CDN link, or leverage the Milligram CLI to generate a simple boilerplate.
Do I need any build tools to use Milligram?
Nope, just include the CSS file in your project’s <head> and you're set.
What is Milligram best suited for?
It’s ideal for quick prototypes, clean documentation pages, landing pages, and any performance-sensitive project looking for a minimal styling foundation.
How do I start using Tachyons?
Include via CDN, install with npm, or build a custom version with PostCSS.
What makes Tachyons different?
Tachyons is utility-first and functional using small, single-purpose classes combined directly in HTML.
How big is Tachyons?
Very lightweight, under 14 KB gzipped, and you can slim it down further by removing unused modules.
Can I customize Tachyons?
Yes, through custom builds, CSS variables, or tools like Components AI for theming.
Is Tachyons enough for UI development?
Yes, many developers build full, responsive, and accessible UIs using only Tachyons plus basic CSS knowledge.