otion

Atomic CSS-in-JS with a featherweight runtime.

Usage

Install the library with a package manager of choice, e.g.:

npm install otion

Introduction through examples

The code snippets below are deliberately framework-agnostic. Please refer to the project's repository for information about integrations.

Basic concepts of atomicity

import { css } from "otion";
 
// Style rules are auto-injected to a `<style>` element in the `<head>`
document.querySelector("#element-1").className = css({ color: "red" });
document.querySelector("#element-2").className = css({ color: "blue" });
 
// Class names of identical rules match, as guaranteed by a hash function
console.assert(css({ color: "red" }) === css({ color: "  red  " }));
 
// In this case, a space-separated string of unique class names is returned
document.querySelector("#element-3").className = css({
  color: "red", // Reuses previously injected style
  ":hover": {
    color: "blue" // Newly injected because of the enclosing pseudo selector
  }
});

Numbers assigned to non-unitless properties are postfixed with "px"

document.querySelector("#element-4").className = css({
  padding: 8, // Translates to "8px"
  lineHeight: 1.5 // Translates to "1.5" without a unit
});

At-rules like media queries can be used and combined with pseudos

document.querySelector("#element-5").className = css({
  "@media": {
    "(min-width: 600px)": {
      color: "rebeccapurple",
      ":hover": {
        background: "papayawhip"
      }
    },
    "(min-width: 1000px)": {
      color: "teal"
    }
  }
});

Fallback values are accepted when auto-prefixing isn't enough

document.querySelector("#element-6").className = css({
  display: "flex",
  justifyContent: ["space-around", "space-evenly"] // Last takes precedence
});

Using keyframes to animate values of given properties over time

// A unique name is attached to the generated `@keyframes` rule
const pulse = keyframes({
  from: { opacity: 0 },
  to: { opacity: 1 }
});
 
// The former rule only gets injected upon usage, as it's lazily initialized
const className = css({
  animation: `${pulse} 3s infinite alternate`
});

Advanced selectors may be used as an escape hatch from strict atomicity

These should be used sparingly, as selectors are not parsed, but transformed as strings. Overly specific selectors void the main advantages of atomicity, so it's best to avoid them. The characters , and & shall not be part of attribute selector values, otherwise, styling is not guaranteed to work.

const className = css({
  display: "flex",
  selectors: {
    // Always start with "&", representing the parent rule
    // See: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-nesting/#nest-selector
    "& > * + *": {
      marginLeft: 16
    },
 
    // In a comma-separated list, each individual selector shall start with "&"
    "&:focus, &:active": {
      outline: "solid"
    },
 
    // Self-references are also supported
    "& + &": {
      color: "green"
    }
  }
});

Custom properties may be defined with type safety in mind

However, please be advised that the recommended method of defining custom property values is within inline or global styles.

/* css.d.ts */
/* See: https://github.com/frenic/csstype#what-should-i-do-when-i-get-type-errors */
 
import * as CSS from "csstype";
 
/* Augment the module below with custom or even missing properties */
declare module "csstype" {
  interface PropertiesFallback {
    "--theme-color"?: "black" | "white"; // Custom property
    WebkitRocketLauncher?: string; // Missing property
  }
}

const className = css({
  "--theme-color": "black",
  color: "var(--theme-color)" // References the property above
});

Server-side rendering

While prerendering a page, browser object models are inaccessible and thus, styles cannot be injected dynamically. However, a VirtualInjector can collect the styles instead of applying them through injection, as seen in the Next.js example:

import { setup } from "otion";
import {
  filterOutUnusedRules,
  getStyleTag,
  VirtualInjector
} from "otion/server";
 
// Options may be customized, as shown later
export const sharedOptions = {};
const injector = VirtualInjector();
 
// Shall be called before the underlying page is rendered
setup({ ...sharedOptions, injector });
 
// Obtain HTML code of the page
let html = renderToString(element);
 
// Statically insert collected styles as the last element of `<head>`
const styleTag = getStyleTag(filterOutUnusedRules(injector, page.html));
html = html.replace("</head>", styleTag + "</head>");

During runtime, the same options should be provided before hydration, as shown below:

import { hydrate, setup } from "otion";
 
import { sharedOptions } from "./server";
 
// Make sure to rehydrate only in browser environments
if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
  setup(options);
  hydrate();
}

Deno support

For convenient resolution of the library, an import map should be used. Unlike with Node, development and production builds are separated into different bundles.

/* import_map.json */
 
{
  "imports": {
    "otion/dev": "https://cdn.pika.dev/otion@X.Y.Z/runtime-deno-dev",
    "otion": "https://cdn.pika.dev/otion@X.Y.Z/runtime-deno"
  }
}

deno run --importmap=import_map.json --unstable mod.ts

Security

User-specified data shall be escaped manually using CSS.escape() or an equivalent method.

Customization

Injector options

`nonce`

In order to prevent harmful code injection on the web, a Content Security Policy (CSP) may be put in place. During server-side rendering, a cryptographic nonce (number used once) may be embedded when generating a page on demand:

import { VirtualInjector } from "otion/server";
 
// Usage with webpack: https://webpack.js.org/guides/csp/
const injector = VirtualInjector({ nonce: __webpack_nonce__ });

The same nonce parameter should be supplied to the client-side injector:

import { CSSOMInjector, DOMInjector, setup } from "otion";
 
const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production";
setup({
  injector: isDev
    ? DOMInjector({ nonce: __webpack_nonce__ })
    : CSSOMInjector({ nonce: __webpack_nonce__ })
});

`target`

Changes the destination of the injected rules. By default, a <style id="__otion"> element in the <head> during runtime, which gets created if unavailable.

Instance options

`prefix`

A custom auto-prefixer method may be used as a replacement for the built-in tiny-css-prefixer:

import { setup } from "otion";
import { prefix as stylisPrefix } from "stylis"; // v4
 
setup({
  // A custom solution which weighs more than the default
  prefix: (property, value) => {
    const declaration = `${property}:${value};`;
    return (
      // The trailing `;` is removed for cleaner results
      stylisPrefix(declaration, property.length).slice(0, -1)
    );
  }
});

Instance creation

Separate instances of otion are necessary when managing styles of multiple browsing contexts (e.g. an <iframe> besides the main document). This option should be used along with a custom target for injection:

import { createInstance, CSSOMInjector } from "otion";
 
const iframeDocument = document.getElementsByTagName("iframe")[0]
  .contentDocument;
 
export const instance = createInstance();
instance.setup({
  injector: CSSOMInjector({
    // Make sure this node exists or create it on the fly if necessary
    target: iframeDocument.getElementById("otion")
  })
});

What's missing

Global styles

Being unique by nature, non-scoped styles should not be decomposed into atomic rules. This library doesn't support injecting global styles, as they may cause unexpected side-effects. However, ordinary CSS can still be used for style sheet normalization and defining the values of CSS Custom Properties.

Contrary to otion-managed styles, CSS referenced from a <link> tag may persist in the cache during page changes. Global styles are suitable for application-wide styling (e.g. normalization/reset), while inlining the scoped rules generated by otion accounts for faster page transitions due to the varying nature of per-page styles.

By omitting global styling functionality on purpose, otion can maintain its low bundle footprint while also encouraging performance-focused development patterns.

Theming

Many CSS-in-JS libraries tend to ship their own theming solutions. Contrary to others, otion doesn't embrace a single recommended method, leaving more choices for developers. Concepts below are encouraged:

CSS Custom Properties (with a polyfill for IE 11)
A singleton or value providers (e.g. React Context)

otion

otion

Usage

Introduction through examples

Basic concepts of atomicity

Numbers assigned to non-unitless properties are postfixed with "px"

At-rules like media queries can be used and combined with pseudos

Fallback values are accepted when auto-prefixing isn't enough

Using keyframes to animate values of given properties over time

Advanced selectors may be used as an escape hatch from strict atomicity

Custom properties may be defined with type safety in mind

Server-side rendering

Deno support

Security

Customization

Injector options

`nonce`

`target`

Instance options

`prefix`

Instance creation

What's missing

Global styles

Theming

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

Repository

Homepage

Weekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

otion

otion

Usage

Introduction through examples

Basic concepts of atomicity

Numbers assigned to non-unitless properties are postfixed with "px"

At-rules like media queries can be used and combined with pseudos

Fallback values are accepted when auto-prefixing isn't enough

Using keyframes to animate values of given properties over time

Advanced selectors may be used as an escape hatch from strict atomicity

Custom properties may be defined with type safety in mind

Server-side rendering

Deno support

Security

Customization

Injector options

nonce

target

Instance options

prefix

Instance creation

What's missing

Global styles

Theming

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

Repository

Homepage

DownloadsWeekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

`nonce`

`target`

`prefix`

Weekly Downloads