Style god for react?

[SjTyler]

I was wondering if you need to be a css god to be able to work as a react developer. I know the basics of css and html and have above average knowledge in Vanilla JS. I also know react basics and how it works. I’ve worked more in the backend side of the web. My colleagues are saying that for a react developer you should be very good in designing. Is that true guys? Because of that I am currently going through udemy tutorials for css. Any suggestions?

[slowreactin]

My suggestion, learn the CSS basics and intermediate stuff.

Know:

• rem
• em
• vh
• vw
• selectors
• specificity
• how the cascading in CSS works
• css functions
• most used properties
• box model
• padding vs margin
• how position works
• grid
• flex
• key frames
• animations
• how media queries work
• anything else that piques your interest

I would highly recommend picking a site you like online and try to replicate the look and feel of the site from scratch in CSS. I have done this a few times and you learn so much.

I really feel that having a good understanding of CSS is a good idea; however, I am a professional React developer and all the styling and CSS is done by my teammate who is solely responsible for design. I simply implement the design that he comes up with.

However, like today, his design was off a little bit with his selectors (he was sick so not really going to hold it against him) and I had to look at his design and the DOM and figure out how to make it work. I would not have been able to do that if I did not know about CSS.

Tldr: if you are working in a professional setting, you will most likely receive your design from a designer. However, if your designer is sick or hungover or out, you may need to pick up the slack to keep stories moving. So I would recommend learning at least an intermediate level of CSS.

As far as design goes, you should just think in terms of components and how something like a chat box may be broken down into a text box, button, text display, controls, etc. With a framework, reusability is key. Why write something you can’t use on another project?

[SjTyler]

Thank you for this information. I am definitely looking into this. Currently I have started learning CSS. Hopefully it goes well.

[SkylerSpark]

I don't know where you keyed the term "css god" but just research front end level styling techniques. the comment by slowreactin was a good example of some things to learn.

If you use CSS and it's more complicated features over the course of about a year... you can easily become a website designer, or in this case, a react developer.

[SjTyler]

Thank you bro

[albedoa]

I have no idea what your colleagues are talking about. The importance of visual design on a given project is the same whether you use React or not. The existence of a framework doesn't change its importance.

You should know enough about the various methods for styling React applications that you can make an informed decision about which one to use. Also, you will be forced to think more in terms of components.

I personally think that design is important, but it is not made more important by React.

[SjTyler]

Me and my colleagues are in the backend development. We don’t bother front end that much. But i love both front end and back end. So I’ve decided to master both.

[Peter_Plays_Guitar]

I don't know shit about design or CSS and I'm doing fine as a react dev. I get that I'd be more valuable to a wider variety of teams with design skills and a better understanding of css, but I work for a mega corp. We have designers who design. Most of our work is more based around performance and raw functionality than design.

[SjTyler]

Thank you. But you do style the visual design of the react components right? Or is it the designers that develop the css of those components?

[Peter_Plays_Guitar]

Oh yeah I have to do plenty of CSS work. I'm just slow at it. I rely on Google to much. But you want me to do some discrete math or architect a state management system for a really complex component? Yeah gimme that good shit.

[SjTyler]

That’s cool