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Ultimate Guide: Create A Dropdown Menu Component With Tailwind CSS

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Dropdown Menu Component

What is Tailwind CSS?

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that focuses on creating personalized user interfaces quickly. It can gives you all the building blocks you are able to create personalized designs without having to fight to override irritating opinionated styles. Also, Tailwind CSS is a highly configurable, low-level CSS framework.

The description of Dropdown Menu Component ui component

A dropdown menu component that you can use on a dashboard profile menu or as a custom select element.

Why use Tailwind CSS to create a Dropdown Menu Component ui component?

  • It can make the building process of Dropdown Menu Component ui component faster and more easily.
  • Enables building complex responsive layouts and components freely.
  • Minimum lines of CSS code in Dropdown Menu Component component file.

The preview of Dropdown Menu Component ui component

Free download of the Dropdown Menu Component's source code

The source code of Dropdown Menu Component ui component

<!-- This is an example component -->
<div class='flex items-center justify-center min-h-screen from-green-100 via-green-300 to-green-500 bg-gradient-to-br'>

    <div class='w-full max-w-lg px-10 py-8 mx-auto'>
        
        <div class='max-w-md mx-auto space-y-6'>

            <div class="dropdown-menu">

                <div class="bg-white rounded-lg shadow-xl flex items-center px-4 py-6 cursor-pointer">
                    <input type="text" placeholder="Juma Musa" readonly class="pointer-events-none text-base placeholder-gray-400 outline-none w-full h-full flex-1" />
                    <svg width="20" height="10" viewBox="0 0 20 10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                        <line x1="0" y1="0" x2="10" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                        <line x1="20" y1="0" x2="10" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                    </svg>
                </div>

                <div class="bg-white rounded-lg shadow-xl px-4 relative mt-8">

                    <svg class="absolute bottom-full right-4" width="30" height="20" viewBox="0 0 30 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                        <polygon points="15, 0 30, 20 0, 20" fill="#FFFFFF"/>
                    </svg>

                    <div class="py-6 flex items-center w-full hover:bg-gray-50">
                        <a href="#" class="flex-1">
                            <div class="text-gray-400 text-base">Profile</div>
                        </a>
                        <div>
                            <svg width="40" height="20" viewBox="0 0 40 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                                <line x1="30" y1="2" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="30" y1="18" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="20" y1="10" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                            </svg>
                        </div>
                    </div>

                    <div class="py-6 flex items-center w-full border-t border-gray-200 hover:bg-gray-50">
                        <a href="#" class="flex-1">
                            <div class="text-gray-400 text-base">Status (Online)</div>
                        </a>
                        <div>
                            <svg width="40" height="20" viewBox="0 0 40 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                                <line x1="30" y1="2" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="30" y1="18" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="20" y1="10" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                            </svg>
                        </div>
                    </div>

                    <div class="py-6 flex items-center w-full border-t border-gray-200 hover:bg-gray-50">
                        <a href="#" class="flex-1">
                            <div class="text-gray-400 text-base">Notifications</div>
                        </a>
                        <div>
                            <svg width="40" height="20" viewBox="0 0 40 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                                <line x1="30" y1="2" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="30" y1="18" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="20" y1="10" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                            </svg>
                        </div>
                    </div>

                    <div class="py-6 flex items-center w-full hover:bg-gray-50 border-t border-gray-200 hover:bg-gray-50">
                        <a href="#" class="flex-1">
                            <div class="text-gray-400 text-base">Sign out</div>
                        </a>
                        <div>
                            <svg width="40" height="20" viewBox="0 0 40 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                                <line x1="30" y1="2" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="30" y1="18" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                                <line x1="20" y1="10" x2="40" y2="10" stroke="#9CA3AF" />
                            </svg>
                        </div>
                    </div>

                </div>

            </div>

        </div>

    </div>

</div>

How to create a Dropdown Menu Component with Tailwind CSS?

Install tailwind css of verion 2.2.19

Use the script html tag to import the script of Tailwind CSS of the version 2.2.19

<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>

All the unility class needed to create a Dropdown Menu Component component

  • bg-white
  • flex
  • px-4
  • py-6
  • text-base
  • w-full
  • h-full
  • flex-1
  • relative
  • mt-8
  • absolute
  • bottom-full
  • right-4
  • hover:bg-gray-50
  • text-gray-400
  • border-t
  • border-gray-200

17 steps to create a Dropdown Menu Component component with Tailwind CSS

  1. Control the background color of an element to white using the bg-white utilities.

  2. Use flex to create a block-level flex container.

  3. Control the horizontal padding of an element to 1rem using the px-4 utilities.

  4. Control the vertical padding of an element to 1.5rem using the py-6 utilities.

  5. Control the text color of an element to base using the text-base utilities.

  6. Use w-full to set an element to a 100% based width.

  7. Use h-full to set an element’s height to 100% of its parent, as long as the parent has a defined height.

  8. Use flex to create a block-level flex container.

  9. Use relative to position an element according to the normal flow of the document.

  10. Control the margin on top side of an element to 2rem using the mt-8 utilities.

  11. Use absolute to position an element outside of the normal flow of the document, causing neighboring elements to act as if the element doesn’t exist.

  12. Use the bottom-full utilities to set the bottom position of a positioned element to full.

  13. Use the right-4 utilities to set the right position of a positioned element to 1rem.

  14. Control the background color of an element to gray-50 using the hover:bg-gray-50 utilities on hover.

  15. Control the text color of an element to gray-400 using the text-gray-400 utilities.

  16. Control the border color of an element to t using the border-t utilities.

  17. Control the border color of an element to gray-200 using the border-gray-200 utilities.

Conclusion

The above is a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Tailwind CSS to create a Dropdown Menu Component components, learn and follow along to implement your own components.