Learn how to create a stylish search bar using Tailwind CSS with this step-by-step guide. Add search functionality to enhance user experience.
Table of Contents
In the world of web development, search functionality plays a crucial role in helping users find the information they need quickly and efficiently. A well-designed search bar not only enhances the user experience but also adds a touch of professionalism to your website.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process of creating a search bar using Tailwind CSS, a powerful utility-first CSS framework. Tailwind CSS offers a unique approach to styling and designing user interfaces, allowing developers to build sleek and responsive components with ease.
Whether you are a seasoned developer or just starting your web development journey, this step-by-step tutorial will provide you with the knowledge and skills to implement a fully functional search bar using Tailwind CSS. We will cover everything from setting up the HTML structure to adding search functionality with JavaScript, and even customizing the appearance of the search bar to match your website's design.
By the end of this guide, you will have the tools and know-how to create a search bar that not only looks great but also delivers accurate and relevant search results. Let's dive in and unlock the potential of Tailwind CSS for creating an exceptional search experience on your website.
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Prerequisites:
Before starting this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. Additionally, you will need a code editor such as Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text to write and save your code.
Source Code
Step 1 (HTML Code):
To get started, we will first need to create a basic HTML file. In this file, we will include the main structure for our search bar.
After creating the files just paste the following below codes into your file. Make sure to save your HTML document with a .html extension, so that it can be properly viewed in a web browser.
Let's go through the code step by step:
1. <!DOCTYPE html>: This is the document type declaration and specifies that the document is an HTML5 document.
2. <html lang="en">: This tag represents the root element of the HTML document. The lang attribute specifies the language of the document, which is set to English ("en") in this case.
3. <head>: This section contains metadata and information about the document.
- <title>: This tag sets the title of the web page to "Tailwind Search Field".
- <meta charset="UTF-8" />: This meta tag specifies the character encoding of the document as UTF-8, which supports a wide range of characters.
- <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />: This meta tag sets the viewport configuration for responsive web design, ensuring that the page width adjusts to the device's screen width.
- <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tailwindcss/2.1.2/tailwind.min.css">: This line includes an external CSS file from a content delivery network (CDN). It is a link to the Tailwind CSS framework, which provides utility classes for styling elements in the HTML.
- <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css" />: This line includes another external CSS file named "styles.css". It is likely a custom CSS file specific to this web page.
4. <body>: This tag represents the body content of the HTML document.
- <div class="max-w-lg bg-white shadow-xl rounded-xl px-8 py-14 sm:px-12">: This div element contains the main content of the page. It has a set of CSS classes applied to it, which define its appearance. These classes specify a maximum width, a white background, a shadow effect, rounded corners, and padding.
- Inside the main content div, there is a search field implemented as follows:
- <div class="relative">: This div creates a relative positioning context for its child elements.
- <svg class="w-6 h-6 text-gray-700 absolute top-3 left-0" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M21 21l-6-6m2-5a7 7 0 11-14 0 7 7 0 0114 0z"></path></svg>: This SVG element represents an icon (a magnifying glass). It is styled using CSS classes to set its size and color.
- <input type="search" placeholder="Search" class="border-b-2 w-full border-gray-200 py-3 px-7">: This input element is a search field. It has the type attribute set to "search" and a placeholder attribute set to "Search" (the text that appears before the user inputs anything). It also has CSS classes applied to it to style the borders, width, and padding.
- <div class="grid sm:grid-cols-3 place-items-center gap-5 mt-10">: This div creates a grid layout with three columns. It is styled using CSS classes to control the grid behavior, column layout, item alignment, and gap between items. The grid is also given a top margin of 10 units.
- Inside the grid div, there are six item divs representing different categories:
- Each item div has a set of CSS classes applied to it to define its appearance, including rounded borders and a fixed size.
- <span class="block bg-[color] rounded-b absolute sm:h-2 top-0 sm:-top-0.5"></span>: These span elements create a colored bar at the top of each item div. The [color] placeholder is replaced with specific color values (e.g., purple, blue, red) defined in the CSS classes applied to the item div.
- <svg class="w-10 h-10 text-gray-600 mt-5" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="[path data]"></path></svg>: These SVG elements represent icons for each item. They have CSS classes to set their size, color, and position.
- <p class="text-gray-700 font-semibold mt-1">[Label]</p>: These paragraph elements display labels for each item. The [Label] placeholder is replaced with specific text for each category.
This is the basic structure of our search bar using HTML, and now we can move on to styling it using CSS.
Step 2 (CSS Code):
Once the basic HTML structure of the search bar is in place, the next step is to add styling to the search bar using custom CSS.
Next, we will create our CSS file. In this file, we will use some basic CSS rules to style our search bar.
1. The first block of code targets the <body> element and sets some properties for it:
- background-color: #F3F3FB;: It sets the background color of the body to a light grayish-blue color.
- min-height: 100vh;: It ensures that the body has a minimum height of 100% of the viewport height, ensuring that it covers the entire visible area of the screen.
- display: grid;: It specifies that the body should be displayed as a grid container.
- place-content: center;: It centers the grid items (content) both vertically and horizontally within the body.
- padding: 2em;: It adds a padding of 2 times the font-size to all four sides of the body.
2. The second block of code targets the placeholder text of <input> elements and sets the following property:
- color: #374151;: It sets the color of the placeholder text to a dark gray color.
3. The third block of code targets <input> elements when they are in focus (when the user clicks or tabs into the input field) and sets the following property:
- outline: none;: It removes the default browser outline that appears around the input field when it is focused. This can be useful for customizing the appearance of the input field.
4. The fourth block of code targets <span> elements and sets the following properties:
- width: 73px;: It sets the width of the <span> elements to 73 pixels.
- height: 7px;: It sets the height of the <span> elements to 7 pixels.
This will give our search bar an upgraded presentation. Create a CSS file with the name of styles.css and paste the given codes into your CSS file. Remember that you must create a file with the .css extension.
body {
background-color: #F3F3FB;
min-height: 100vh;
display: grid;
place-content: center;
padding: 2em;
}
input::placeholder {
color: #374151;
}
input:focus {
outline: none;
}
span {
width: 73px;
height: 7px;
} Final Output:
Conclusion:
Congratulations! You have successfully learned how to create a search bar using Tailwind CSS. Throughout this tutorial, we covered the entire process, from setting up the HTML structure to adding search functionality and customizing the appearance.
By leveraging the power of Tailwind CSS, you now have the ability to create stylish and responsive search bars that seamlessly integrate into your web development projects. Tailwind CSS's utility-first approach allowed you to easily apply pre-defined classes to achieve consistent and visually appealing designs.
Remember, customization is key! Tailwind CSS offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tweak the search bar's appearance to align with your website's design language. By adjusting classes, adding icons, or incorporating animations, you can create a search bar that not only functions flawlessly but also captures the essence of your brand.
As you continue your web development journey, keep exploring the capabilities of Tailwind CSS and experiment with different variations of search bar designs. The skills you have gained here can be applied to other UI components and projects, helping you create visually stunning and user-friendly websites.
Now it's time to put your newfound knowledge into practice. Start implementing search bars using Tailwind CSS in your web development projects and witness the impact it has on your users' search experience.
Thank you for joining us on this journey of creating search bars with Tailwind CSS. We hope this tutorial has been informative and empowering. Happy coding!
That’s a wrap!
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