How to build a Tailwind CSS tabs component

I've been using Tailwind CSS for quite a while and I'd never go back to a CSS framework that doesn't use a utility-first approach.

One disadvantage of Tailwind CSS compared to other frameworks like Bootstrap or Bulma is the lack of a set of components like buttons, dropdowns, alerts, and more.

That's why I decided to start a tutorial series here on the DEV community where I show you how to build one of the most commonly used components.

Last time I showed you how to build a modal component and today I'll show you how to build a Tailwind CSS tabs components.

Here's how it will look in the end:

Tailwind CSS tabs component

Let's get started!

Tailwind CSS tabs component

First of all we need to code the base HTML markup which can either be a nav component with <a> tags inside or use a <ul> element with list items.

We'll stick with the list variant so let's use the following markup:


<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Profile</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Dashboard</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Settings</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Contacts</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a>Disabled</a>
    </li>
</ul>

Nice and simple, right? But now we need to start make it look pretty. Let's first design the whole list:


<ul class="flex flex-wrap border-b border-gray-200">
    <li>
        <a href="#">Profile</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Dashboard</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Settings</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Contacts</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a>Disabled</a>
    </li>
</ul>

This helps order the list items horizontally. Now we need to style the list items and the links:


<ul class="flex flex-wrap border-b border-gray-200">
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" aria-current="page" class="inline-block bg-gray-100 text-blue-600 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center active">Profile</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center">Dashboard</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center">Settings</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center">Contacts</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a class="inline-block text-gray-400 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center cursor-not-allowed">Disabled</a>
    </li>
</ul>

Great! Now it should look something like this:

Tailwind CSS tabs light mode

We should also create a dark mode style for this component, so let's start by adding the following classes:


<ul class="flex flex-wrap border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700">
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" aria-current="page" class="inline-block bg-gray-100 text-blue-600 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center active dark:bg-gray-800 dark:text-blue-500">Profile</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center dark:text-gray-400  dark:hover:bg-gray-800 dark:hover:text-gray-300">Dashboard</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center dark:text-gray-400 dark:hover:bg-gray-800 dark:hover:text-gray-300">Settings</a>
    </li>
    <li class="mr-2">
        <a href="#" class="inline-block text-gray-500 hover:text-gray-600 hover:bg-gray-50 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center dark:text-gray-400  dark:hover:bg-gray-800 dark:hover:text-gray-300">Contacts</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a class="inline-block text-gray-400 rounded-t-lg py-4 px-4 text-sm font-medium text-center dark:text-gray-500 cursor-not-allowed">Disabled</a>
    </li>
</ul>