The author reflects on their journey with CSS, initially embracing Tailwind for its structure, but now transitioning to vanilla CSS. This change was prompted by a desire to understand CSS more deeply and improve their skills. The author details the new CSS structure, including an imported reset, component-based styling, predefined color variables, and a font size system adapted from Tailwind. They also utilize utility classes, establish a base for global styles, and manage spacing consciously. Responsive design relies more on CSS grid layouts, departing from Tailwind's media query-focused approach. The build system employs esbuild for production bundling, although not essential during development. The author outlines key reasons for the migration, citing the reliance on a build system, improved CSS knowledge, the limitations of Tailwind, and a desire for more semantic HTML. They conclude by discussing features like @layer, and acknowledging the benefits of Tailwind while still finding value in its principles.