Create Flyout Menus using React and Tailwind CSS

Flyout menus are a type of navigational menu that can be displayed when the user hovers over or clicks on an item allowing for a clean and organized display of additional options without crowding the main interface. In this article, we will create a responsive flyout menu using React and Tailwind CSS and React Icons.

It will be an interactive and modern menu styled with animations and icons to enhance user experience. Flyout menus are a crucial part of modern web applications providing an intuitive way for users to navigate additional options or settings without cluttering the main interface.

Prerequisites

• React.js
• Tailwind CSS
• Node.js npm
• React Icons

Approach

This app uses a simple button to toggle a flyout menu with options like Home, Profile, Settings, and Logout, each with an associated icon. The layout is styled using Tailwind CSS for responsiveness and smooth interactions, with hover effects for the menu items. The useState hook manages the menu's open/close state. You can easily customize the icons, and colors, or add more options by updating the Tailwind classes or content in the App.js file, and extending the color scheme in the tailwind.config.js for a personalized look.

Steps to Create & Configure the Project

Here we will create a sample React JS project and install Tailwind CSS once it is completed we will start development for Flyout Menus using React and Tailwind CSS. Below are the Steps to create and configure the project:

Step 1: Set up a React Application

First, create a sample React JS application using the mentioned command then navigate to the project folder.

npx create-react-app react-app
cd react-app

Project Structure:

Updated dependencies:

"dependencies": {
    "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^5.17.0",
    "@testing-library/react": "^13.4.0",
    "@testing-library/user-event": "^13.5.0",
    "react": "^18.3.1",
    "react-dom": "^18.3.1",
    "react-icons": "^5.3.0",
    "react-scripts": "5.0.1",
    "web-vitals": "^2.1.4"
  }

Step 2: Install and Configure Tailwind CSS

Once Project is created successfully Now install and configure the Tailwind css by using below commands in your project.

npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init -p

Step 3: Develop Business logic

Once Tailwind css installation and configuration is completed. Now we need to develop user interface for Flyout Menus using tailwind CSS and for making it responsive we will use App.js and App.css files.

• App.js ( src\App.js )
• index.css ( src\index.js )
• tailwind.config.js ( tailwind.config.js )

Example: This demonstrates the creation of Flyout Menus using React and Tailwind CSS:

/*index.css*/
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

body {

    margin: 0;
    font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
    -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
    -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}

code {
    font-family: source-code-pro, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace;
}

//App.js
import React, { useState } from "react";
import { FaHome, FaUser, FaCog, FaSignOutAlt, FaBeer } from "react-icons/fa";
import './App.css';

function App() {
    const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);

    return (
        <div className="min-h-screen bg-gray-100 flex
                        items-center justify-center">
            <div className="relative">
                {/* Button to open the flyout menu */}
                <button
                    onClick={() => setOpen(!open)}
                    className="bg-blue-500 text-white
                               p-3 rounded-md hover:bg-blue-600
                               focus:outline-none"
                >
                    Menu
                </button>

                {/* Flyout Menu */}
                {open && (
                    <div className="absolute top-full
                                    mt-2 right-0 w-48
                                    bg-white shadow-lg
                                    rounded-md">
                        <ul className="py-2">
                            <li className="flex items-center
                                           p-2 hover:bg-gray-200">
                                <FaHome className="mr-2 text-blue-500" />
                                <span>Home</span>
                            </li>
                            <li className="flex items-center
                                           p-2 hover:bg-gray-200">
                                <FaUser className="mr-2 text-green-500" />
                                <span>Profile</span>
                            </li>
                            <li className="flex items-center
                                           p-2 hover:bg-gray-200">
                                <FaCog className="mr-2 text-yellow-500" />
                                <span>Settings</span>
                            </li>
                            <li className="flex items-center
                                           p-2 hover:bg-gray-200">
                                <FaSignOutAlt className="mr-2 text-red-500" />
                                <span>Logout</span>
                            </li>
                        </ul>
                    </div>
                )}
            </div>
        </div>
    );
}

export default App;

/*tailwind.config.js*/
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
    content: ["./src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}"],
    theme: {
        extend: {
            colors: {
                primaryGreen: "#4CAF50",  // Green
                primaryBlack: "#000000",  // Black
                primaryWhite: "#FFFFFF",  // White
            }
        },
    },
    plugins: [],
}

Step 4: Run the Application

Once Development is completed Now we need run the react js application by using below command. By default the react js application run on port number 3000.

npm start

Output: Once Project is successfully running then open the below URL to test the output.

http://localhost:3000/

Conclusion

Flyout menus are a valuable UI component that can significantly improve user interaction and the overall design of an application. With the flexibility of React the power of Tailwind CSS for styling and the extensive icon library of React Icons we have created a responsive interactive flyout menu that can be easily customized and extended for various use cases.