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How TO - Tabs


Learn how to create tabs with CSS and JavaScript.


Tabs

Tabs are perfect for single page web applications, or for web pages capable of displaying different subjects:

London

London is the capital city of England.

Paris

Paris is the capital of France.

Tokyo

Tokyo is the capital of Japan.


Create Togglable Tabs

Step 1) Add HTML:

Example

<div class="tab">
  <button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'London')">London</button>
  <button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'Paris')">Paris</button>
  <button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'Tokyo')">Tokyo</button>
</div>

<div id="London" class="tabcontent">
  <h3>London</h3>
  <p>London is the capital city of England.</p>
</div>

<div id="Paris" class="tabcontent">
  <h3>Paris</h3>
  <p>Paris is the capital of France.</p>
</div>

<div id="Tokyo" class="tabcontent">
  <h3>Tokyo</h3>
  <p>Tokyo is the capital of Japan.</p>
</div>

Create buttons to open specific tab content. All <div> elements with class="tabcontent" are hidden by default (with CSS & JS). When the user clicks on a button - it will open the tab content that "matches" this button.


Step 2) Add CSS:

Style the buttons and the tab content:

Example

/* Style the tab */
div.tab {
    overflow: hidden;
    border: 1px solid #ccc;
    background-color: #f1f1f1;
}

/* Style the buttons inside the tab */
div.tab button {
    background-color: inherit;
    float: left;
    border: none;
    outline: none;
    cursor: pointer;
    padding: 14px 16px;
    transition: 0.3s;
}

/* Change background color of buttons on hover */
div.tab button:hover {
    background-color: #ddd;
}

/* Create an active/current tablink class */
div.tab button.active {
    background-color: #ccc;
}

/* Style the tab content */
.tabcontent {
    display: none;
    padding: 6px 12px;
    border: 1px solid #ccc;
    border-top: none;
}

Step 3) Add JavaScript:

Example

function openCity(evt, cityName) {
    // Declare all variables
    var i, tabcontent, tablinks;

    // Get all elements with class="tabcontent" and hide them
    tabcontent = document.getElementsByClassName("tabcontent");
    for (i = 0; i < tabcontent.length; i++) {
        tabcontent[i].style.display = "none";
    }

    // Get all elements with class="tablinks" and remove the class "active"
    tablinks = document.getElementsByClassName("tablinks");
    for (i = 0; i < tablinks.length; i++) {
        tablinks[i].className = tablinks[i].className.replace(" active", "");
    }

    // Show the current tab, and add an "active" class to the button that opened the tab
    document.getElementById(cityName).style.display = "block";
    evt.currentTarget.className += " active";
}
Try it Yourself »

Fade in Tabs:

If you want to fade in the tab content, add the following CSS:

Example

.tabcontent {
    -webkit-animation: fadeEffect 1s;
    animation: fadeEffect 1s; /* Fading effect takes 1 second */
}

@-webkit-keyframes fadeEffect {
    from {opacity: 0;}
    to {opacity: 1;}
}

@keyframes fadeEffect {
    from {opacity: 0;}
    to {opacity: 1;}
}
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Show a tab by default

To open a specific tab on page load, use JavaScript to "click" on the specified tab button:

Example

<button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'London')" id="defaultOpen">London</button>

<script>
// Get the element with id="defaultOpen" and click on it
document.getElementById("defaultOpen").click();
</script>
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Close a tab

If you want to close a specific tab, use JavaScript to hide the tab with a click of a button:

Example

<!-- Click on the <span> element to close the tab -->

<div id="London" class="tabcontent">
  <h3>London</h3>
  <p>London is the capital city of England.</p>
  <span onclick="this.parentElement.style.display='none'">x</span>
</div>
Try it Yourself »

Tip: Also check out How To - Vertical Tabs.