UI Styling

UI Styling Mastery

Build beautiful, accessible interfaces with shadcn/ui components and Tailwind CSS v4.

Core Stack

Quick Start

# Initialize shadcn/ui + Tailwind
npx shadcn@latest init

# Add components
npx shadcn@latest add button card dialog form input table

# Use in code
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"
<Button variant="default" size="lg">Click me</Button>

Reference Navigation

• Component Catalog — All shadcn/ui components with usage patterns
• Theming & Dark Mode — CSS variables, color palettes, next-themes, custom themes
• Tailwind Utilities — Layout, spacing, typography, colors, responsive
• Tailwind v4 Features — @theme directive, CSS-first config, container queries
• Accessibility Patterns — ARIA, keyboard nav, focus management, screen readers
• Responsive Design — Mobile-first, breakpoints, adaptive layouts

Key Patterns

Form with Validation

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form"
import { zodResolver } from "@hookform/resolvers/zod"
import * as z from "zod"
import { Form, FormField, FormItem, FormLabel, FormControl, FormMessage } from "@/components/ui/form"
import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input"
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"

const schema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email(),
  password: z.string().min(8)
})

export function LoginForm() {
  const form = useForm({ resolver: zodResolver(schema) })
  return (
    <Form {...form}>
      <form className="space-y-6">
        <FormField control={form.control} name="email" render={({ field }) => (
          <FormItem>
            <FormLabel>Email</FormLabel>
            <FormControl><Input type="email" {...field} /></FormControl>
            <FormMessage />
          </FormItem>
        )} />
        <Button type="submit" className="w-full">Sign In</Button>
      </form>
    </Form>
  )
}

Responsive Layout with Dark Mode

<div className="min-h-screen bg-background text-foreground">
  <div className="container mx-auto px-4 py-8">
    <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3 gap-6">
      <Card>
        <CardContent className="p-6">
          <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold">Content</h3>
        </CardContent>
      </Card>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Best Practices

1. Utility-First: Use Tailwind classes directly, extract components only for true repetition
2. Mobile-First: Start with mobile styles, layer md:, lg: variants
3. Accessibility-First: Use Radix primitives, add focus-visible states
4. CSS Variables: Use --variable for consistent theming
5. Dark Mode: Apply dark: variants, use semantic color names (bg-background)
6. Performance: Automatic CSS purging, avoid dynamic class names

Related Skills