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Tailwind CSS - Reusing Styles

Quiz

Tailwind CSS uses a utility-first approach, where you apply small, focused, single-purpose classes to build your designs. This method helps avoid complexity and maintain consistency in your code.

When working on a project, you might find yourself using the same set of utility classes in multiple places. Instead of writing custom CSS for repeated styles, you can use Tailwind's utility classes to handle these repetitions efficiently.

Here's a simple example of displaying profile widgets on a webpage using a similar utility class applied to each widget three times.

Example

 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="p-4 bg-gray-100">
    <div class="flex space-x-4 overflow-x-auto p-4 bg-gray-200">
        <!-- Profile Widget 1 -->
        <div class="flex-shrink-0 w-56 p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300
                    rounded-lg shadow-lg flex flex-col items-center space-y-3">
            <div class="mb-3">
                <img class="h-20 w-20 rounded-full border-4 border-cyan-500 
                            shadow-md" src="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/1.jpg" 
                            alt="Profile Picture"/>
            </div>
            <div class="text-center">
                <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-1">John Doe</h3>
                <p class="text-gray-600 text-sm mb-2">Tech Enthusiast</p>
                <p class="text-gray-500 text-xs">John has over 5 years of 
                    experience in the tech industry, focusing on software 
                    development and innovation.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <!-- Profile Widget 2 -->
        <div class="flex-shrink-0 w-56 p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300 
                    rounded-lg shadow-lg flex flex-col items-center space-y-3">
            <div class="mb-3">
                <img class="h-20 w-20 rounded-full border-4 border-rose-500 
                            shadow-md" src="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/women/2.jpg" 
                            alt="Profile Picture"/>
            </div>
            <div class="text-center">
                <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-1">
                  Jane Smith
                </h3>
                <p class="text-gray-600 text-sm mb-2">UI/UX Designer</p>
                <p class="text-gray-500 text-xs">Jane is a skilled UI/UX 
                    designer with 3 years of experience in creating intuitive user
                    interfaces and enhancing user experiences.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <!-- Profile Widget 3 -->
        <div class="flex-shrink-0 w-56 p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300 
                    rounded-lg shadow-lg flex flex-col items-center space-y-3">
            <div class="mb-3">
                <img class="h-20 w-20 rounded-full border-4 border-violet-500 
                            shadow-md" src="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/3.jpg" 
                            alt="Profile Picture"/
                >
            </div>
            <div class="text-center">
                <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-1">
                    Alice Johnson</h3>
                <p class="text-gray-600 text-sm mb-2">Data Scientist</p>
                <p class="text-gray-500 text-xs">Alice has 7 years 
                    of experience as a data scientist, specializing in data 
                    analysis and machine learning.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

Don't worry! We'll help you understand how to reuse styles in your projects and when to use each method effectively.

Using Editor and Language Features

Often, repeating styles isn't a problem because it's all in one place or created with loops, so you only write the code once.

If you're working in a single file, use multi-cursor editing to make changes to several lines at once. For repeated elements, use loops to generate them from a single piece of code. This keeps your work efficient and organized.

Multi-cursor Editing

Multi-cursor editing is a feature in many text editors that enables you to place multiple cursors in different locations within a document. This allows you to make the same change in several spots all at once, making it perfect for updating repeated content quickly.

When you have repeated styles or elements in a single file, multi-cursor editing can help you modify them all at once. Let's look at an example to see how it works.

Suppose you have the following list of items and you want to update the class bg-red-100 to bg-teal-100 for each item.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="p-4">
    <h3 class="font-bold underline mb-4">
        List of Item in Shopping cart:
    </h3>
    <ul class="shopping-cart">
        <li class="bg-red-100 p-2">Apples</li>
        <li class="bg-red-100 p-2">Bananas</li>
        <li class="bg-red-100 p-2">Oranges</li>
        <li class="bg-red-100 p-2">Grapes</li>
    </ul>
</body>

</html>

To Add Cursors

Hold down the Alt key and click next to each bg-red-100 in your code. This will place a cursor at each position where you clicked, and with all the cursors in place, type bg-teal-100. All instances of bg-red-100 will update to bg-teal-100 at once.

Updated Code:

<ul class="shopping-cart">
    <li class="bg-teal-100 p-2">Apples</li>
    <li class="bg-teal-100 p-2">Bananas</li>
    <li class="bg-teal-100 p-2">Oranges</li>
    <li class="bg-teal-100 p-2">Grapes</li>
</ul>

You might find that using multi-cursor editing is usually the easiest way to handle repeated styles. It helps you update all the instances at once, so you don't need extra tools or methods.

Loops

Loops in programming make it easier to handle repeated elements. Instead of writing the same code over and over, you can use a loop to create the same HTML structure automatically. So, when working with repetitive design elements in your web projects, it's important to use loops effectively.

Before you go through the effort of creating separate components or custom classes for every repeating design element, check if you're using that element more than once.

For example, the profile widgets shown at the beginning of this guide use the same design repeated three times. Instead of writing out each widget individually, we can use a loop to generate multiple elements from a single template. Let's look at how this works in the example below.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="p-4">
    <div id="profile-container" class="flex space-x-4 overflow-x-auto 
        p-4 bg-gray-200">
    <!-- Profile Widgets will be dynamically inserted here -->
    </div>
    <script>
        document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
          const profiles = [
            { name: "John Doe", role: 
                "Tech Enthusiast", 
                imgSrc: "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/1.jpg", 
                    
                        borderColor: "border-cyan-500" },
            { name: "Jane Smith", role: "UI/UX Designer", 
                imgSrc: "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/women/2.jpg", 
                    borderColor: "border-rose-500" },
            { name: "Alice Johnson", role: "Data Scientist", 
                imgSrc: "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/3.jpg", 
                    borderColor: "border-violet-500" }
          ];
    
          const container = document.getElementById('profile-container');
          profiles.forEach(profile => {
            container.innerHTML += `
              <div class="flex-shrink-0 w-56 p-4 bg-white border 
                border-gray-300 rounded-lg shadow-lg flex flex-col items-center space-y-3">
                <div class="mb-3">
                  <img class="h-20 w-20 rounded-full border-4 ${profile.borderColor} shadow-md" 
                    src="${profile.imgSrc}" alt="Profile Picture"/>
                </div>
                <div class="text-center">
                  <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-1">
                    ${profile.name}</h3>
                  <p class="text-gray-600 text-sm mb-2">
                    ${profile.role}</p>
                  <p class="text-gray-500 text-xs">Profile description here.</p>
                </div>
              </div>
            `;
          });
        });
    </script> 
</body>

</html>

Using loop means you write the markup once, avoiding duplication and making updates easier. It efficiently manages dynamic data and ensures that changes are applied in one place.

Extracting components and partials

If you want to reuse styles in different files, it's a good idea to create a component if you're using a front-end framework like React,Swelte, or Vue. If you're using a templating language like Blade, ERB, Twig, or Nunjucks, you should create a template partial. This approach helps keep your code organized and makes it easier to maintain.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
  <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="p-4">
  <div class="testimonial-sectio">
        <div class="testimonial-card p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300 
                    rounded-lg shadow-lg">
            <img class="w-16 h-16 rounded-full border-2 border-gray-300" 
              src="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/1.jpg" 
                  alt="Alice Johnson's photo" />
            <h3 class="mt-2 text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800">
                Alice Johnson
            </h3>
            <p class="mt-1 text-gray-600">
                This service is fantastic! It exceeded all my expectations.
            </p>
        </div>
        
        <div class="testimonial-card p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300 
                    rounded-lg shadow-lg mt-4">
            <img class="w-16 h-16 rounded-full border-2 border-gray-300" 
              src="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/women/2.jpg" 
                  alt="Bob Smith's photo" />
            <h3 class="mt-2 text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800">
                Bob Smith
            </h3>
            <p class="mt-1 text-gray-600">
                An excellent experience from start to finish.
            </p>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

For the example above, create a TestimonialCard component in React using Tailwind CSS and use it as many times as needed for your project. Below is a functional component you can use to display testimonials.

Example

// TestimonialCard.jsx
import React from 'react';

const TestimonialCard = ({ name, photo, testimonial }) => (
    <div className="p-4 bg-white border border-gray-300 rounded-lg shadow-lg">
        <img 
            className="w-16 h-16 rounded-full border-2 border-gray-300" 
            src={photo} 
            alt={`${name}'s photo`} 
        />
        <h3 className="mt-2 text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800">{name}</h3>
        <p className="mt-1 text-gray-600">{testimonial}</p>
    </div>
);

export default TestimonialCard;

To use the TestimonialCard component in your app or design, just import it and provide the necessary props.

Example

// App.jsx
import React from 'react';
import TestimonialCard from './TestimonialCard';

const App = () => (
    <div className="p-4 bg-gray-100">
        <div className="flex space-x-4">
            <TestimonialCard
                name="John Doe"
                photo="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/1.jpg"
                  testimonial="John's experience was wonderful. 
                  The service was top-notch and exceeded expectations."
            />
            <TestimonialCard
                name="Jane Smith"
                photo="https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/women/2.jpg"
                  testimonial="Jane had a fantastic experience! 
                  Highly recommended for anyone looking for quality service."
            />
        </div>
    </div>
);

export default App;

Use this component everywhere, and update the styles easily from one place.

Compared to CSS Abstractions

When designing web interfaces, CSS alone isn't enough for complex components. You need both HTML and CSS to handle detailed UI elements effectively.

Consider a "Progress Tracker" as an example. Instead of styling each step individually with CSS, a component combines HTML and CSS for each step.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
  <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="flex justify-center items-center h-screen bg-gray-100">
    <div class="w-full max-w-3xl px-4 py-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-md">
        <div class="text-center mb-8 text-gray-800">
            <p class="text mb-4 ml-4">
                This tracker shows your progress through different stages:
            </p>
            <ul class="list-disc list-inside text-left text-gray-600">
                <li><strong class="text-green-500">Completed:</strong> 
                    Finished steps
                </li>
                <li><strong class="text-yellow-500">Current:</strong>
                    The active step
                </li>
                <li><strong class="text-gray-300">Upcoming:</strong>
                    Future steps
                </li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <div class="relative flex items-center">
            <div class="absolute inset-0 flex items-center pointer-events-none">
                <div class="flex-1 h-1 bg-green-500"></div>
                <div class="flex-1 h-1 bg-yellow-400"></div>
                <div class="flex-1 h-1 bg-gray-300"></div>
                <div class="flex-1 h-1 bg-gray-300"></div>
            </div>
            <!-- Steps -->
            <div class="flex-1 text-center relative z-10">
                <div class="w-12 h-12 rounded-full bg-green-500 text-white 
                    flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-2 text-2xl"></div>
                <div class="text-sm">Step 1</div>
            </div>
            <div class="flex-1 text-center relative z-10">
                <div class="w-12 h-12 rounded-full bg-yellow-500 text-white 
                    flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-2 text-2xl"></div>
                <div class="text-sm">Step 2</div>
            </div>
            <div class="flex-1 text-center relative z-10">
                <div class="w-12 h-12 rounded-full bg-gray-200 text-white 
                    flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-2 text-2xl"></div>
                <div class="text-sm">Step 3</div>
            </div>
            <div class="flex-1 text-center relative z-10">
                <div class="w-12 h-12 rounded-full bg-gray-200 text-white
                    flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-3 text-2xl"></div>
                <div class="text-sm">Step 4</div>
            </div>
            <div class="absolute right-0 top-1/2 w-1/4 h-px bg-gray-300"></div>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

Even if you use classes for styling, you'll end up duplicating HTML each time you use the component. While updating font size is simple, making more complex changes, like turning titles into links, is difficult with just CSS.

Components and template partials are better because they combine HTML and styles. This way, you can update font sizes or change all titles into links in one place.

Consider using a template partial or JavaScript component for a simpler solution.

Example

import React from 'react';

function Step({ status, number }) {
    const statusClasses = {
        completed: 'bg-green-500',
        current: 'bg-yellow-500',
        upcoming: 'bg-gray-200'
    };

    return (
        <div className="flex-1 text-center relative z-10">
            <div className={`w-12 h-12 rounded-full ${statusClasses[status]} 
                text-white flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-2 text-2xl`}>
                {status === 'completed' ? '' : status === 'current' ? '' : ''}
            </div>
            <div className="text-sm">Step {number}</div>
        </div>
    );
}

function ProgressTracker() {
    return (
        <div className="relative flex items-center">
            <div className="absolute inset-0 flex items-center pointer-events-none">
                <div className="flex-1 h-1 bg-green-500"></div>
                <div className="flex-1 h-1 bg-yellow-400"></div>
                <div className="flex-1 h-1 bg-gray-300"></div>
                <div className="flex-1 h-1 bg-gray-300"></div>
            </div>
            <Step status="completed" number={1} />
            <Step status="current" number={2} />
            <Step status="upcoming" number={3} />
            <Step status="upcoming" number={4} />
            <div className="absolute right-0 top-1/2 w-1/4 h-px bg-gray-300"></div>
        </div>
    );
}

export default ProgressTracker;

With components and template partials, you only need utility classes because styles are handled in one place.

Extracting classes with Tailwind's @apply Directive

When designing web pages, using the same utility classes repeatedly can make your HTML messy and hard to manage.Tailwind CSS helps with this through the @apply directive.

What is @apply and When to Use It?

The @apply directive allows you to create custom CSS classes by applying a group of Tailwind utility classes. This keeps your HTML cleaner by moving repeated styles into your CSS files.

While template partials work well for complex components, @apply is great for frequently used styles. It helps keep your HTML clean and your styles consistent.

Before using @apply, you might add multiple utility classes directly in your HTML to style a card.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> 
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>

<body class="p-4 bg-gray-200">
    <div class="p-6 max-w-sm mx-auto bg-white rounded-lg shadow-md">
        <h2 class="text-xl font-bold mb-2">Card Title</h2>
        <p class="text-gray-700 ">
            This is a card component styled with Tailwind utilities.
        </p>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

After Using @apply: Define a custom class for the card in your CSS, then use it in your HTML:

<div class="card">
    <h2 class="card-title">Card Title</h2>
    <p class="card-content">
        This is a card component 
        styled with Tailwind utilities.
    </p>
</div>

CSS with @apply

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

@layer components {
  .card {
    @apply p-6 max-w-sm mx-auto bg-white rounded-lg shadow-md;
  }
  .card-title {
    @apply text-xl font-bold mb-2;
  }
  .card-content {
    @apply text-gray-700;
  }
}

Using the @apply directive helps you keep your styling organized and your code cleaner.

Avoiding Premature Abstraction

Don't use @apply just to clean up your HTML. It might seem like a good idea, but it can create more problems:

Naming Issues: Coming up with class names can be tiring.
Multiple Edits: Overusing @apply means constantly switching between CSS and HTML.
Style Changes: Changes to one class might unintentionally affect other parts of your site.
Larger CSS Files: Many custom classes can increase your CSS file size and impact performance.

Use @apply for small, reusable items like buttons, or use components in a framework like React for better management.

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