Building a Mobile-Responsive Navigation Menu With Tailwind CSS

Responsive navigation is essential for creating user-friendly websites that work well across devices. In this tutorial, we'll build a sleek, mobile-responsive navigation bar using Tailwind CSS, complete with a hamburger menu for small screens.

Step 1: Basic HTML Structure

We’ll start with a basic navigation bar layout.

<nav class="bg-white shadow-md p-4">
  <div class="container mx-auto flex items-center justify-between">
    <div class="text-xl font-bold">MySite</div>
    <div class="md:hidden">
      <button id="menu-btn" class="focus:outline-none">
        ☰
      </button>
    </div>
    <ul id="menu" class="hidden md:flex space-x-6">
      <li><a href="#" class="hover:text-blue-500">Home</a></li>
      <li><a href="#" class="hover:text-blue-500">About</a></li>
      <li><a href="#" class="hover:text-blue-500">Services</a></li>
      <li><a href="#" class="hover:text-blue-500">Contact</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>

Step 2: Add Tailwind Classes for Responsive Behavior

We’ve already used md:hidden and md:flex to control when elements appear. Now let's add a little JavaScript to toggle the menu on mobile.

Step 3: Toggle Menu With JavaScript

<script>
  const menuBtn = document.getElementById('menu-btn');
  const menu = document.getElementById('menu');

  menuBtn.addEventListener('click', () => {
    menu.classList.toggle('hidden');
  });
</script>

Step 4: Optional Enhancements

• Add transitions or animations for smoother effects.
• Replace the ☰ icon with an SVG hamburger icon for better styling.
• Highlight the active link with font-bold or a border.

Conclusion

Tailwind CSS makes it easy to build responsive navigation without writing custom media queries. With a simple toggle and a few utility classes, your site is now mobile-ready!

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