tailwindcss

What is tailwindcss?

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces. It is a highly customizable, low-level CSS framework that gives you all of the building blocks you need to build bespoke designs without any annoying opinionated styles you have to fight to override.

What are tailwindcss's main functionalities?

Responsive Design

Tailwind uses responsive design modifiers like 'md:' and 'lg:' to change styles based on the screen size.

<div class='bg-blue-500 md:bg-red-500 lg:bg-green-500'></div>

State Variants

Tailwind provides state variants like 'hover:' and 'focus:' to apply styles on different element states.

<button class='bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-700 focus:outline-none focus:ring'></button>

Utility Classes

Tailwind offers utility classes for spacing, sizing, colors, and more, allowing for a quick and easy styling process.

<div class='p-4 max-w-sm mx-auto'></div>

Customization

Tailwind can be customized through the tailwind.config.js file, allowing you to define your own colors, spacing, and more.

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'custom-color': '#da20d8'
      }
    }
  }
};

Other packages similar to tailwindcss

bootstrap

Bootstrap is a widely used CSS framework that comes with a set of pre-designed components and responsive grid system. Unlike Tailwind's utility-first approach, Bootstrap focuses on component classes, which can lead to more semantic HTML but less customization flexibility.

foundation-sites

Foundation is a responsive front-end framework similar to Bootstrap, with a focus on mobile-first design. It provides a set of pre-styled components and a grid system. Foundation allows for more customization than Bootstrap but is less utility-focused compared to Tailwind.

bulma

Bulma is a modern CSS framework based on Flexbox. It is component-based like Bootstrap but with a simpler syntax. Bulma's design is more opinionated than Tailwind's, and it doesn't offer the same level of low-level control.

tachyons

Tachyons is another utility-first CSS framework that aims to provide as much speed as possible by using small, single-purpose classes. It shares a similar philosophy with Tailwind but has a smaller community and less extensive documentation.

README

A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

Documentation

For full documentation, visit tailwindcss.com.

Community

For help, discussion about best practices, or any other conversation that would benefit from being searchable:

Discuss Tailwind CSS on GitHub

For chatting with others using the framework:

Join the Tailwind CSS Discord Server

Contributing

If you're interested in contributing to Tailwind CSS, please read our contributing docs before submitting a pull request.

Changelog

[4.0.0] - 2025-01-21

Added

• New high-performance engine — where full builds are up to 5x faster, and incremental builds are over 100x faster — and measured in microseconds.
• Designed for the modern web — built on cutting-edge CSS features like cascade layers, registered custom properties with @property, and color-mix().
• Simplified installation — fewer dependencies, zero configuration, and just a single line of code in your CSS file.
• First-party Vite plugin — tight integration for maximum performance and minimum configuration.
• Automatic content detection — all of your template files are discovered automatically, with no configuration required.
• Built-in import support — no additional tooling necessary to bundle multiple CSS files.
• CSS-first configuration — a reimagined developer experience where you customize and extend the framework directly in CSS instead of a JavaScript configuration file.
• CSS theme variables — all of your design tokens exposed as native CSS variables so you can access them anywhere.
• Dynamic utility values and variants — stop guessing what values exist in your spacing scale, or extending your configuration for things like basic data attributes.
• Modernized P3 color palette — a redesigned, more vivid color palette that takes full advantage of modern display technology.
• Container queries — first-class APIs for styling elements based on their container size, no plugins required.
• New 3D transform utilities — transform elements in 3D space directly in your HTML.
• Expanded gradient APIs — radial and conic gradients, interpolation modes, and more.
• @starting-style support — a new variant you can use to create enter and exit transitions, without the need for JavaScript.
• not-* variant — style an element only when it doesn't match another variant, custom selector, or media or feature query.
• Even more new utilities and variants — including support for color-scheme, field-sizing, complex shadows, inert, and more.

Start using Tailwind CSS v4.0 today by installing it in a new project, or playing with it directly in the browser on Tailwind Play.

For existing projects, we've published a comprehensive upgrade guide and built an automated upgrade tool to get you on the latest version as quickly and painlessly as possible.

For a deep-dive into everything that's new, check out the announcement post.