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6 Steps To Build A Select Dropdown With Tailwind CSS Like A Pro In Under An Hour

Select Dropdown

As a FrontEnd technology blogger, you may already know that CSS frameworks are a great way to speed up your development process. Tailwind CSS is one of the most popular CSS frameworks out there, and it's perfect for building UI components quickly and efficiently. In this article, we'll show you how to build a select dropdown with Tailwind CSS in just six easy steps.

What is Tailwind CSS?

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that allows you to quickly build custom designs without writing any CSS. It provides a set of pre-defined classes that you can use to style your HTML elements. Tailwind CSS is highly customizable, and you can easily change the default styles to match your brand or design requirements.

The description of Select Dropdown UI component

A select dropdown is a UI component that allows users to choose one option from a list of options. It's commonly used in forms, surveys, and other interactive applications. A select dropdown consists of a button or input field and a list of options that appear when the user clicks on the button or input field.

Why use Tailwind CSS to create a Select Dropdown UI component?

Tailwind CSS provides a set of pre-defined classes that you can use to style your select dropdown. This makes it easy to create a consistent design across your application. Additionally, Tailwind CSS is highly customizable, so you can easily change the default styles to match your brand or design requirements.

The preview of Select Dropdown UI component

To give you an idea of what the select dropdown UI component looks like, here's a preview:

Free download of the Select Dropdown's source code

The source code of Select Dropdown UI component

Here's the source code for the select dropdown UI component:

<html>
   <head>
      <!-- JIT SUPPORT, for using peer-* below -->
      <script src="https://unpkg.com/tailwindcss-jit-cdn"></script>
   </head>
   <body>
<div class="min-h-screen p-10 bg-gray-100">
  <div class="max-w-md mx-auto">
    <label for="select" class="font-semibold block py-2">Select Input:</label>

    <div class="relative">
      <div class="h-10 bg-white flex border border-gray-200 rounded items-center">
        <input value="Javascript" name="select" id="select" class="px-4 appearance-none outline-none text-gray-800 w-full" checked />

        <button class="cursor-pointer outline-none focus:outline-none transition-all text-gray-300 hover:text-gray-600">
          <svg class="w-4 h-4 mx-2 fill-current" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
            <line x1="18" y1="6" x2="6" y2="18"></line>
            <line x1="6" y1="6" x2="18" y2="18"></line>
          </svg>
        </button>
        <label for="show_more" class="cursor-pointer outline-none focus:outline-none border-l border-gray-200 transition-all text-gray-300 hover:text-gray-600">
          <svg class="w-4 h-4 mx-2 fill-current" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
            <polyline points="18 15 12 9 6 15"></polyline>
          </svg>
        </label>
      </div>

      <input type="checkbox" name="show_more" id="show_more" class="hidden peer" checked />
      <div class="absolute rounded shadow bg-white overflow-hidden hidden peer-checked:flex flex-col w-full mt-1 border border-gray-200">
        <div class="cursor-pointer group">
          <a class="block p-2 border-transparent border-l-4 group-hover:border-blue-600 group-hover:bg-gray-100">Python</a>
        </div>
        <div class="cursor-pointer group border-t">
          <a class="block p-2 border-transparent border-l-4 group-hover:border-blue-600 border-blue-600 group-hover:bg-gray-100">Javascript</a>
        </div>
        <div class="cursor-pointer group border-t">
          <a class="block p-2 border-transparent border-l-4 group-hover:border-blue-600 group-hover:bg-gray-100">Node</a>
        </div>
        <div class="cursor-pointer group border-t">
          <a class="block p-2 border-transparent border-l-4 group-hover:border-blue-600 group-hover:bg-gray-100">PHP</a>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dgauderman" target="_blank" class="md:absolute bottom-0 right-0 p-4 float-right animate-bounce">
      <img src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/guidelines/logo-mark-3.svg" alt="Buy Me A Coffee" class="transition-all rounded-full w-14 -rotate-45 hover:shadow-sm shadow-lg ring hover:ring-4 ring-white">
    </a>
</body>
</html>

How to create a Select Dropdown with Tailwind CSS?

Now that you have an idea of what a select dropdown is and why you should use Tailwind CSS to create one, let's get started with the six easy steps to build a select dropdown with Tailwind CSS.

Step 1: Create the HTML markup

The first step is to create the HTML markup for the select dropdown. Here's an example:

<div class="relative inline-block w-64">
  <select class="block appearance-none w-full bg-white border border-gray-400 hover:border-gray-500 px-4 py-2 pr-8 rounded shadow leading-tight focus:outline-none focus:shadow-outline">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
  <div class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 right-0 flex items-center px-2 text-gray-700">
    <svg class="fill-current h-4 w-4" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><path d="M14.95 7.95l-3.95 3.95l-3.95-3.95l-.7.7l4.65 4.65l4.65-4.65l-.7-.7z"/></svg>
  </div>
</div>

In this example, we've used the div element to create a container for the select dropdown. Inside the container, we've added a select element and a div element. The select element contains the list of options, and the div element contains the arrow icon.

Step 2: Add Tailwind CSS to your project

The second step is to add Tailwind CSS to your project. You can do this by including the Tailwind CSS CDN in your HTML file or by installing Tailwind CSS using npm. Here's an example of how to include the Tailwind CSS CDN:

<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/tailwindcss@latest/dist/tailwind.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

Step 3: Customize the default styles

The third step is to customize the default styles of the select dropdown. You can do this by adding custom classes to the HTML markup. Here's an example:

<div class="relative inline-block w-64">
  <select class="block appearance-none w-full bg-white border border-gray-400 hover:border-gray-500 px-4 py-2 pr-8 rounded shadow leading-tight focus:outline-none focus:shadow-outline custom-select">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
  <div class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 right-0 flex items-center px-2 text-gray-700">
    <svg class="fill-current h-4 w-4" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><path d="M14.95 7.95l-3.95 3.95l-3.95-3.95l-.7.7l4.65 4.65l4.65-4.65l-.7-.7z"/></svg>
  </div>
</div>

<style>
.custom-select {
  font-size: 16px;
  color: #333;
  border-radius: 4px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  height: 40px;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  -moz-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;
  background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 20 20'%3E%3Cpath fill='%23333' d='M7 10l5 5 5-5z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E") no-repeat;
  background-position: right 10px center;
  background-size: 20px 20px;
}
</style>

In this example, we've added the custom-select class to the select element and added custom styles to the custom-select class.

Step 4: Add hover styles

The fourth step is to add hover styles to the select dropdown. You can do this by adding the hover class to the select element. Here's an example:

<div class="relative inline-block w-64">
  <select class="block appearance-none w-full bg-white border border-gray-400 hover:border-gray-500 px-4 py-2 pr-8 rounded shadow leading-tight focus:outline-none focus:shadow-outline custom-select hover:bg-gray-100">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
  <div class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 right-0 flex items-center px-2 text-gray-700">
    <svg class="fill-current h-4 w-4" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><path d="M14.95 7.95l-3.95 3.95l-3.95-3.95l-.7.7l4.65 4.65l4.65-4.65l-.7-.7z"/></svg>
  </div>
</div>

<style>
.custom-select {
  font-size: 16px;
  color: #333;
  border-radius: 4px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  height: 40px;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  -moz-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;
  background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 20 20'%3E%3Cpath fill='%23333' d='M7 10l5 5 5-5z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E") no-repeat;
  background-position: right 10px center;
  background-size: 20px 20px;
}
.custom-select:hover {
  border-color: #888;
}
.custom-select:focus {
  border-color: #555;
  outline: none;
}
.hover\:bg-gray-100:hover {
  background-color: #f7fafc;
}
</style>

In this example, we've added the hover:bg-gray-100 class to the select element and added custom styles to the hover:bg-gray-100 class.

Step 5: Add focus styles

The fifth step is to add focus styles to the select dropdown. You can do this by adding the focus class to the select element. Here's an example:

<div class="relative inline-block w-64">
  <select class="block appearance-none w-full bg-white border border-gray-400 hover:border-gray-500 px-4 py-2 pr-8 rounded shadow leading-tight focus:outline-none focus:shadow-outline custom-select hover:bg-gray-100 focus:border-gray-500">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
  <div class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 right-0 flex items-center px-2 text-gray-700">
    <svg class="fill-current h-4 w-4" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><path d="M14.95 7.95l-3.95 3.95l-3.95-3.95l-.7.7l4.65 4.65l4.65-4.65l-.7-.7z"/></svg>
  </div>
</div>

<style>
.custom-select {
  font-size: 16px;
  color: #333;
  border-radius: 4px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  height: 40px;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  -moz-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;
  background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 20 20'%3E%3Cpath fill='%23333' d='M7 10l5 5 5-5z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E") no-repeat;
  background-position: right 10px center;
  background-size: 20px 20px;
}
.custom-select:hover {
  border-color: #888;
}
.custom-select:focus {
  border-color: #555;
  outline: none;
}
.hover\:bg-gray-100:hover {
  background-color: #f7fafc;
}
.focus\:shadow-outline:focus {
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}
</style>

In this example, we've added the focus:border-gray-500 and focus:shadow-outline classes to the select element and added custom styles to the focus:border-gray-500 and focus:shadow-outline classes.

Step 6: Add custom arrow icon

The final step is to add a custom arrow icon to the select dropdown. You can do this by adding an SVG icon to the div element. Here's an example:

<div class="relative inline-block w-64">
  <select class="block appearance-none w-full bg-white border border-gray-400 hover:border-gray-500 px-4 py-2 pr-8 rounded shadow leading-tight focus:outline-none focus:shadow-outline custom-select hover:bg-gray-100 focus:border-gray-500">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
  <div class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 right-0 flex items-center px-2 text-gray-700">
    <svg class="fill-current h-4 w-4" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><path d="M14.95 7.95l-3.95 3.95l-3.95-3.95l-.7.7l4.65 4.65l4.65-4.65l-.7-.7z"/></svg>
  </div>
</div>

<style>
.custom-select {
  font-size: 16px;
  color: #333;
  border-radius: 4px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  height: 40px;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  -moz-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;
  background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 20 20'%3E%3Cpath fill='%23333' d='M7 10l5 5 5-5z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E") no-repeat;
  background-position: right 10px center;
  background-size: 20px 20px;
}
.custom-select:hover {
  border-color: #888;
}
.custom-select:focus {
  border-color: #555;
  outline: none;
}
.hover\:bg-gray-100:hover {
  background-color: #f7fafc;
}
.focus\:shadow-outline:focus {
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}
</style>

In this example, we've added an SVG icon to the div element to create a custom arrow icon.

Conclusion

In this article, we've shown you how to build a select dropdown with Tailwind CSS in just six easy steps. With Tailwind CSS, you can quickly build custom designs without writing any CSS. We hope this article has been helpful, and we encourage you to try building your own select dropdown with Tailwind CSS.