Create spinner in Tailwind CSS
Last Updated :
23 Jul, 2025
A spinner or loading indicator is an important element in user interfaces, used to show that content is being loaded. We will create a CSS-based spinner using Tailwind CSS, a popular utility-first CSS framework.
Prerequisites
Approach
We will approach this task by using Tailwind CSS classes to style an HTML div element and create the illusion of a spinner by applying animations. The spinner will consist of:
- Circular shape: Created using the rounded-full class for border-radius.
- Border and animation: Using utility classes to control the size, border style, and animations (border-t-transparent, animate-spin).
You can add the following CDN link in the <head> section:
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.16"></script>
Example 1: This basic spinner uses Tailwind CSS to create a circular loading animation with a blue border and a transparent top. It spins continuously with the animate-spin class, centered on a light gray background.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content=
"width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Spinners with Tailwind CSS</title>
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.16"></script>
</head>
<body class="flex items-center
justify-center
h-screen bg-gray-100">
<div id="spinner-container" class="space-y-10">
<!-- Spinners will go here -->
<div class="flex justify-center">
<div class="w-16 h-16 border-4 border-blue-500
border-t-transparent rounded-full
animate-spin">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
basic spinnerExample 2: This code creates a blue circular spinner with a pulsing animation (animate-ping) using Tailwind CSS, centered on a light gray background.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content=
"width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Spinners with Tailwind CSS</title>
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.16"></script>
</head>
<body class="flex items-center justify-center
h-screen bg-gray-100">
<div id="spinner-container" class="space-y-10">
<!-- Spinners will go here -->
<div class="flex justify-center">
<div class="w-16 h-16 bg-blue-500
rounded-full animate-ping">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Pulsing SpinnerExample 3: This code creates a bouncing animation with three small blue circles using Tailwind CSS, aligned in a row with staggered bounce effects.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content=
"width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Spinners with Tailwind CSS</title>
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.16"></script>
</head>
<body class="flex items-center justify-center h-screen bg-gray-100">
<div id="spinner-container" class="space-y-10">
<!-- Spinners will go here -->
<div class="flex justify-center space-x-1">
<div class="w-4 h-4 bg-blue-500
rounded-full animate-bounce">
</div>
<div class="w-4 h-4 bg-blue-500
rounded-full animate-bounce
delay-100">
</div>
<div class="w-4 h-4 bg-blue-500
rounded-full animate-bounce
delay-200">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Dotted SpinnerExample 4: This code creates a loading spinner with four vertical bars of different colors (blue, green, red, yellow) using Tailwind CSS, where each bar pulses (animate-pulse) with a staggered delay, centered on a light gray background.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content=
"width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Loading Bars Spinner</title>
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.16"></script>
</head>
<body class="flex justify-center items-center min-h-screen bg-gray-100">
<div class="flex space-x-1">
<div class="w-2 h-8 bg-blue-500
animate-pulse">
</div>
<div class="w-2 h-8 bg-green-500
animate-pulse delay-150">
</div>
<div class="w-2 h-8 bg-red-500
animate-pulse delay-300">
</div>
<div class="w-2 h-8 bg-yellow-500
animate-pulse delay-450">
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Output
Similar Reads
CSS Tutorial CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It is a stylesheet language used to style and enhance website presentation. CSS is one of the three main components of a webpage, along with HTML and JavaScript.HTML adds Structure to a web page.JavaScript adds logic to it and CSS makes it visually appealing or
7 min read
CSS Introduction CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a language designed to simplify the process of making web pages presentable.It allows you to apply styles to HTML documents by prescribing colors, fonts, spacing, and positioning.The main advantages are the separation of content (in HTML) and styling (in CSS) and the
4 min read
CSS Syntax CSS is written as a rule set, which consists of a selector and a declaration block. The basic syntax of CSS is as follows:The selector is a targeted HTML element or elements to which we have to apply styling.The Declaration Block or " { } " is a block in which we write our CSS.HTML<html> <h
2 min read
CSS Selectors CSS Selectors are used to target HTML elements on your pages, allowing you to apply styles based on their ID, class, type attributes, and more. There are mainly 5 types of selectors.Basic CSS Selectors: These are used to target elements by tag, .class, or # ID for fundamental styling needs.Combinato
7 min read
CSS Comments CSS comments are used to add notes or explanations to your code, helping you and others understand it better. They start with /* and end with */ and can be used for both single-line and multi-line comments. Note: Comments are ignored by browsers, so they wonât affect how your webpage looks or works.
2 min read
CSS Colors CSS colors are used to set the color of different parts of a webpage, like text, background, and borders. This helps make the page look more attractive and easier to read. You can define colors using names, hex codes, RGB values, and more.You can try different formats of colors here- #content-iframe
5 min read
CSS Borders Borders in CSS are used to create a visible outline around an element. They can be customized in terms ofWidth: The thickness of the border.Style: The appearance of the border (solid, dashed, dotted, etc.).Color: The color of the border.You can try different types of borders here- #custom-iframe{ he
5 min read
CSS Margins CSS margins are used to create space around an element, separating it from neighboring elements and the edges of the webpage. They control the layout by adjusting the distance between elements, providing better organization and readability.Syntax:body { margin: value;}HTML<html> <head>
4 min read
CSS Height and Width Height and Width in CSS are used to set the height and width of boxes. Their values can be set using length, percentage, or auto.Width and HeightThe width and height properties in CSS are used to define the dimensions of an element. The values can be set in various units, such as pixels (px), centim
4 min read
CSS Outline CSS outline is a property used to draw a line around an element's border. It does not affect the layout, unlike borders. It's often used to highlight elements, providing a visual emphasis without altering the dimensions of the element.Syntaxselector{ outline: outline-width outline-type outline-color
4 min read