How to Create Tabs with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (Step-by-Step)

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Tabbed navigation is a great way to organize content into separate sections, improving the user experience by reducing clutter on your page. In this beginner-friendly tutorial, you’ll learn how to build interactive tabs using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, following clean code practices.

🧠 What Are Tabs?

Tabs are a UI component that allow users to switch between different sections of content without leaving the page. Each tab corresponds to a content area, and only one section is visible at a time.

This makes it perfect for:

  • FAQs
  • Settings pages
  • Product details
  • And more!

👁️ Preview

🛠️ Step 1: Set Up the HTML

Let’s start by creating the basic structure with HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
  <title>Tabbed Interface</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
</head>
<body>

  <div class="tabs">
    <div class="tab-buttons">
      <button class="tab-btn active" data-tab="tab1">Tab 1</button>
      <button class="tab-btn" data-tab="tab2">Tab 2</button>
      <button class="tab-btn" data-tab="tab3">Tab 3</button>
    </div>

    <div class="tab-content active" id="tab1">
      <p>This is the content for Tab 1.</p>
    </div>
    <div class="tab-content" id="tab2">
      <p>This is the content for Tab 2.</p>
    </div>
    <div class="tab-content" id="tab3">
      <p>This is the content for Tab 3.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <script src="script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

🎨 Step 2: Style the Tabs with CSS

Now let’s make everything look nice and clean.

* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

body {
  font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  padding: 2rem;
}

.tabs {
  max-width: 600px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

.tab-buttons {
  display: flex;
  border-bottom: 2px solid #ddd;
  margin-bottom: 1rem;
}

.tab-btn {
  flex: 1;
  padding: 1rem;
  background-color: #f9f9f9;
  border: none;
  cursor: pointer;
  transition: background-color 0.3s ease;
}

.tab-btn:hover {
  background-color: #e0e0e0;
}

.tab-btn.active {
  background-color: #fff;
  border-bottom: 2px solid #007bff;
  font-weight: bold;
}

.tab-content {
  display: none;
}

.tab-content.active {
  display: block;
}

⚙️ Step 3: Add Interactivity with JavaScript

Now let’s make the tabs actually switch content when clicked.

const tabButtons = document.querySelectorAll(".tab-btn");
const tabContents = document.querySelectorAll(".tab-content");

tabButtons.forEach((button) => {
  button.addEventListener("click", () => {
    const target = button.getAttribute("data-tab");

    tabButtons.forEach((btn) => btn.classList.remove("active"));
    tabContents.forEach((tab) => tab.classList.remove("active"));

    button.classList.add("active");
    document.getElementById(target).classList.add("active");
  });
});

This small script:

  • Listens for a click on any tab button
  • Hides all content sections
  • Removes the “active” class from all buttons
  • Adds the “active” class to the clicked button and its corresponding content section

✅ Final Result

You now have a fully functional tab component using just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript! This is a very useful building block in modern front-end development.

🧩 Extra Tips

  • You can use icons or animations to improve UI
  • For accessibility, consider adding role="tablist", role="tab", and ARIA attributes
  • For dynamic tabs, explore how to create tabs from data with JavaScript

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