Radix UI vs. Milligram CSS
By SW Habitation
Radix UI
Milligram CSS
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 Radix UI?
Radix UI is a modern component library offering headless, unstyled, and accessible primitives for React. These primitives include tooltips, dialogs, dropdowns, switches, and more, giving you full control over their design and behavior.
It's built for developers who want to create custom design systems without reinventing the wheel.
Key Features of Radix UI
- Unstyled Components: You bring your own styles using any CSS method.
- Accessibility First: Meets WCAG standards and handles focus management, keyboard support, ARIA, etc.
- Composability: Designed to work well in any React component structure.
- Animation Support: Works well with animation libraries like Framer Motion.
- Cross-browser Consistency: Tested across all major browsers.
- TypeScript Support: Full typings for all components.
Advantages of Radix UI
- Total design freedom, you're not tied to any design system.
- Accessibility is handled for you out-of-the-box.
- Works with Tailwind, Emotion, Styled Components, or vanilla CSS.
- Ideal for teams building a component library or design system.
- Tree-shakable, import only what you need.
Disadvantages of Radix UI
- No styles included, you must build your own from scratch.
- Longer time to build complete UIs compared to styled libraries.
- Slightly higher learning curve for accessibility and composition.
- Not ideal for beginners who want fast results.
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.
Comparison Between Radix UI vs Milligram CSS
Use Cases of Radix UI
- Custom design systems and UI kits
- Accessibility-first enterprise apps
- Complex UIs needing fine control (e.g., advanced modals, tooltips)
- Developers who prefer full styling freedom
- Applications requiring granular component logic and behavior
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.
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 Radix UI a UI library or just logic?
It's a headless UI library that provides unstyled, accessible primitives like Dialog, Tooltip, Tabs, etc.
Is Radix UI styled?
No. It leaves styling completely up to you — use Tailwind, CSS modules, or styled-components.
Does Radix UI support dark mode?
Yes, but it depends on your implementation — it doesn’t manage themes out-of-the-box.
Is Radix UI accessible?
100%. It strictly follows WCAG and ARIA best practices.
Is Radix UI React-only?
Yes. It only works with React (and supports TypeScript out-of-the-box).
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.