DEV Community: Zafar Ismatullaev

Tailwind CSS Plugins by Htmlstream

Zafar Ismatullaev — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 12:47:43 +0000

Hello Dev.to, Community!

I'm excited to share with you our new set of plugins that we've developed for the Tailwind CSS audience.

A handful of completely unstyled, fully accessible UI plugins for popular Tailwind CSS features from Accordion and Dropdowns to Tooltips and Modals that for one reason or another don't belong in core.

Often the biggest challenge when working with a framework is figuring out what you're supposed to do when there's something you need that the framework doesn't handle for you.

Preline plugins have been designed from the ground up to be extensible and customizable, so that no matter what you're building you never feel like you're fighting the framework.

Here is an example of what Preline library markup might look like:

<div class="hs-dropdown">
  <button type="button" class="hs-dropdown-toggle">
    ...
  </button>

  <div class="hs-dropdown-menu">
    ...
  </div>
</div>

How it works

Every utility class can be applied conditionally to classes in Preline plugins, making it easy to create complex interfaces without ever leaving your HTML.

To add a utility to active or opening classes, all you need to do is prefix the utility with the : character:

<div class="hs-dropdown-open:opacity-100 opacity-0">
  ...
</div>

This works for every utility class in the framework, which means you can build any design solution — you can even control things like letter spacing or cursor styles.

Here's an example of a dropdown component:

Here's how the example above works:

<div class="hs-dropdown relative inline-flex">
  <button id="hs-dropdown-how-it-works" type="button" class="hs-dropdown-toggle py-3 px-4 inline-flex justify-center items-center gap-2 rounded-md border font-medium bg-white text-gray-700 shadow-sm align-middle hover:bg-gray-50 focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-offset-2 focus:ring-offset-white focus:ring-blue-600 transition-all text-sm dark:bg-gray-800 dark:hover:bg-slate-800 dark:border-gray-700 dark:text-gray-400 dark:hover:text-white dark:focus:ring-offset-gray-800">
    Actions
    <svg class="hs-dropdown-open:rotate-180 w-2.5 h-2.5 text-gray-600" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
      <path d="M2 5L8.16086 10.6869C8.35239 10.8637 8.64761 10.8637 8.83914 10.6869L15 5" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round"/>
    </svg>
  </button>

  <div class="hs-dropdown-menu hs-dropdown-open:opacity-100 w-72 hidden z-10 transition-[margin,opacity] opacity-0 duration-300 mt-2 min-w-[15rem] bg-white shadow-md rounded-lg p-2 dark:bg-gray-800 dark:border dark:border-gray-700 dark:divide-gray-700" aria-labelledby="hs-dropdown-how-it-works">
    <!-- ... -->
  </div>
</div>

hs-dropdown-toggle triggers the dropdown.
By default hs-dropdown-open has no styles and we use opacity-0 to hide the dropdown before it's triggered, but by adding hs-dropdown-open:opacity-100 utility we turn the opacity up to 100%.
We also use rotate-180 to rotate the arrow 180deg when it's active.

Dark mode

They even go along with the framework's dark mode class.

Accessibility Friendly

Command the interface at your fingertips with accessibility. Go to any page, focuses first item that matches keyboard input, and more so everyone can use it.

<div class="hs-dropdown-menu">
  <a class="focus:ring-2 focus:ring-blue-500" href="newsletter.html">
    Newsletter
  </a>
</div>

Features

Methodology - Apply any Tailwind CSS utility classes, all you need to do is prefix the utility with the : character:
Accessibility - Preline UI comes with accessibility features so everyone can use it
Keyboard Friendly - Command the interface at your fingertips. Go to any page, focuses first item that matches keyboard input, and more

Plugins

Each plugin comes with its own documentation page, starting installation guide

Next up is the Examples section, which offers a stylish example with copy-to-clipboard functionality and a dark/light mode switch so users can see how this particular example is done in dark mode.

If you prefer to create your own style? There is a section where a completely unstyled code example contains classes for the basic functionality of the plugin for you to build your next big idea without the hustle of deleting the style.

<div class="hs-dropdown relative inline-flex">
  <button id="hs-dropdown-unstyled" type="button" class="hs-dropdown-toggle inline-flex justify-center items-center gap-x-2">
    Actions
    <svg class="hs-dropdown-open:rotate-180 w-2.5 h-2.5" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
      <path d="M2 5L8.16086 10.6869C8.35239 10.8637 8.64761 10.8637 8.83914 10.6869L15 5" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round"/>
    </svg>
  </button>

  <div class="hs-dropdown-menu transition-[opacity,margin] duration hs-dropdown-open:opacity-100 opacity-0 w-56 hidden z-10 mt-2 min-w-[15rem] bg-white" aria-labelledby="hs-dropdown-unstyled">
    <a class="block" href="#">Newsletter</a>
    <a class="block" href="#">Purchases</a>
    <a class="block" href="#">Downloads</a>
    <a class="block" href="#">Team Account</a>
  </div>
</div>

Otherwise, you can choose from a number of demo examples provided by the Preline authors.

All the available plugins so far:

Conclusion

Preline Plugins offers a wide range of options for variety use cases, making developing simple and complex UIs easier. The best thing is, it doesn't limit you! 🔥

We believe that the idea of utility first approach is the way forward. We’re just getting started and the future holds even more exciting features. Let’s build together! 🤘

Don't forget to share the post with your friends and other code newbies learning CSS frameworks.

For more up-to-date web development content, follow us on Twitter, and Htmlstream in Dev.to and me on Dev.to!

Thanks for reading! 😎

Preline UI - Open Source Tailwind CSS component library

Zafar Ismatullaev — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 12:48:29 +0000

What is TailwindCSS?

A utility-first CSS framework packed with classes like flex, pt-4, text-center and rotate-90 that can be composed to build any design, directly in your markup.

What is Preline UI?

Preline UI is an open-source set of prebuilt UI components based on the utility-first Tailwind CSS framework.

Why use Preline UI?

Based on the Tailwind CSS utility classes, Preline UI's prebuilt components and UI elements help you quickly design and customize responsive mobile-first websites with diverse predefined components (such as modals, buttons, alerts, cards and more).

Components are grouped by visual usability criteria (components, navigation, forms, etc.) and styled directly on top of Tailwind CSS, making them easy to extend and customize. This is a lifesaver for developers looking to create a unique and eye-catching design system without the hassle of creating each component by hand.

It is a great option for new and existing projects.

... and it’s completely free! 🤯

Features

Let's see the most exciting features with a few examples.

Plugins - We've developed a handful of completely unstyled, fully accessible UI plugins for popular features that for one reason or another don't belong in core. Available plugins (more plugins coming soon):

Accordion
Collapse
Dropdown
Mega Menu
Modal
Offcanvas
Remove Element
Tabs
Popover
Tooltip

250+ Components - We have put a lot of thought into designing all of the components to look coherent and work well together in various grid layouts. It’s an extraordinarily rich and complete UI collection for a modern web application. Nevertheless, if some components should look different according to your perspective, you can edit and customize them easily. Learn more

Dark Mode - With modern operating systems all having light and dark mode, to make this as easy as possible, all Preline UI components include a dark variant that lets you style your site differently when dark mode is enabled. Learn more

Code snippets - Each component comes with copy to clipboard feature. Just click on the “Copy” button and copy the code to your file. The hard work is done for you and makes the process easier.

Documentation

We've done our best to make the documentation as thoughtful and thoroughly organized as possible with easy to navigate through different sections to help you not to struggle that much as you build different sites.

For full documentation of the Preline options, visit preline.com.

License

Preline UI is Open Source project and licensed under MIT for better Web.

Learn more here.

Preline with other Frameworks

Quick Setup

This guide will help you get started with Preline UI, including how to run, customize, update, and integrate your project!

First, you need to make sure that you have a working Tailwind CSS project installed and that you also have Node and NPM installed on your machine.

Require via NPM

Install preline-ui via npm

npm i preline-ui

Include Preline UI as a plugin in the tailwind.config.js file

npm i preline-ui

Include the JavaScript <script> that powers the interactive elements near the end of your <body> tag:

<script src="./docs/assets/vendor/preline-ui/preline-ui.bundle.js"></script>

Upcoming features

We are working hard to provide even more time saving features for both designers and developers, here is a list of upcoming features:

Starter Pages & Examples
Figma Design System
Tailwind Plugins
More Components

Please feel free to share in the comments section below what features you would like to see in future updates.

Conclusion

Preline offers a wide range of options for every component, making your life easier by providing you with high quality design solutions. This diversity is very powerful and useful when dealing with complex UIs.

The best thing is, it doesn't limit you! 🔥

We believe that the idea of utility first approach is the way forward. We’re just getting started and the future holds even more exciting features. Let’s build together! 🤘

Don't forget to share the post with your friends and other code newbies learning CSS frameworks.

For more up-to-date web development content, follow us on Twitter, and Htmlstream in Dev.to and me on Dev.to!

Thanks for reading! 😎