Accessible Tabs Using React & Tailwind CSS

We're going for tabs with automatic activation. This means a tab panel will be revealed as soon as it's respective tab receives focus either by click or by using the arrow keys.

We want to re-use the tabs functionality in many places, with many different styles. So the tab component must:

Be re-usable.
Be completely unstyled.
Integrate well with Tailwind CSS.

Requirements for accessibility From W3:

Tab: When focus moves into the tab list, places focus on the active tab element.
When focus is on a tab element in a horizontal tab list:
- Left Arrow: moves focus to the previous tab. If focus is on the first tab, moves focus to the last tab.
- Right Arrow: Moves focus to the next tab. If focus is on the last tab element, moves focus to the first tab.
When focus is on a tab element in a vertical tab list:
- Up Arrow: moves focus to the previous tab. If focus is on the first tab, moves focus to the last tab.
- Down Arrow: Moves focus to the next tab. If focus is on the last tab element, moves focus to the first tab.
When focus is on a tab in a tablist with either horizontal or vertical orientation:
- Space or Enter: Activates the tab.
- Home: Moves focus to the first tab.
- End: Moves focus to the last tab.

Funk

I've created a package called Funk, which contains a set of components to create Tabs.

yarn add @statikly/funk

npm install --save @statikly/funk

You can then use it in such fashion:

import React from 'react'
import { TabGroup } from '@statikly/funk'

const Page = () => {
  return (
    <div className="h-screen w-screen flex flex-col justify-center items-center">
      <TabGroup numTabs={3} direction={TabGroup.direction.HORIZONTAL}>
        <TabGroup.TabList>
          <TabGroup.Tab
            index={0}
            className="h-12 px-12 transition-colors duration-150"
            activeClassName="bg-black text-white"
            inactiveClassName="text-black"
          >
            Tab 1
          </TabGroup.Tab>
          <TabGroup.Tab
            index={1}
            className="h-12 px-12 transition-colors duration-150"
            activeClassName="bg-black text-white"
            inactiveClassName="text-black"
          >
            Tab with input
          </TabGroup.Tab>
          <TabGroup.Tab
            index={2}
            className="h-12 px-12 transition-colors duration-150"
            activeClassName="bg-black text-white"
            inactiveClassName="text-black"
          >
            Tab 3
          </TabGroup.Tab>
        </TabGroup.TabList>
        <TabGroup.TabPanel
          index={0}
          className="p-16 transition-all transform h-64"
          activeClassName="opacity-100 duration-500 translate-x-0"
          inactiveClassName="absolute opacity-0 -translate-x-2"
        >
          Content 1
        </TabGroup.TabPanel>
        <TabGroup.TabPanel
          index={1}
          className="p-16 transition-all transform h-64 flex flex-col"
          activeClassName="opacity-100 duration-500 translate-x-0"
          inactiveClassName="absolute opacity-0 -translate-x-2"
        >
          <label className="font-semibold mb-1" htmlFor="input">
            Input
          </label>
          <input
            id="input"
            type="text"
            className="border border-gray-400 px-8 h-12"
            placeholder="Focus me!"
          />
        </TabGroup.TabPanel>
        <TabGroup.TabPanel
          index={2}
          className="p-16 transition-all transform h-64"
          activeClassName="opacity-100 duration-500 translate-x-0"
          inactiveClassName="absolute opacity-0 -translate-x-2"
        >
          Content 3
        </TabGroup.TabPanel>
      </TabGroup>
      <button className="mt-12 h-12 px-12 bg-indigo-500 text-white">
        Outside button
      </button>
    </div>
  )
}

Check out the Codesandbox and give it a whirl!

Prefer to get the code yourself or take a look under the hood? Check out the repo here!

Blog

Accessible Tabs Using React & Tailwind CSS

Robert

Funk

Join Our Newsletter. No Spam, Only the good stuff.

Related