How to create Tabs using HTML...

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Posted by Netshop-Isp, 05-05-2011, 02:47 AM
Tabs can be really useful especially for content-crowded web sites. You can save plenty of space just by placing your block of content in tabs and displaying one block at a time in the same place.

The content that you break-up in tabs, though, should be somehow relevant. For example, you can separate in tabs content about Weather Forecasting; tabs could be cities in your country, or forecast days.

If you are in the web hosting business, you might want to "tabularize" the different type of web hosting plans you offer, like Shared Web Hosting, VPS Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers etc.

However, grouping content in tabs can be a “double-edged sword”. As the content is being compact in one tab, other tabs’ content is hidden. If, for example, you are running an e-commerce website that offers technology products like laptops, groupin the various laptop models will forbid potential customers from comparing the laptop features!

Now that we have discussed the importance and value of tabs in a website, lets proceed to the technical side of things: How to create tabs using HTML and CSS. The following example is for a horizontal tab area. We will create the tabs without any images; pure css and html and a small bit of javascript.

In the css file create the following classes:
Code:
#Tabs ul {
padding: 0px;
margin: 0px;
margin-left: 10px;
list-style-type: none;
}

#Tabs ul li {
display: inline-block;
clear: none;
float: left;
height: 24px;
}

#Tabs ul li a {
position: relative;
margin-top: 16px;
display: block;
margin-left: 6px;
line-height: 24px;
padding-left: 10px;
background: #f6f6f6;
z-index: 9999;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
border-bottom: 0px;

/* The following four lines are to make the top left and top right corners of each tab rounded. */
-moz-border-radius-topleft: 4px;
border-top-left-radius: 4px;
-moz-border-radius-topright: 4px;
border-top-right-radius: 4px;
/* end of rounded borders */

width: 130px;
color: #000000;
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
}

#Tabs ul li a:hover {
text-decoration: underline; // a very simple effect when hovering the mouse on tab
}

#Tabs #Content_Area { // this is the css class for the content displayed in each tab
padding: 0 15px;
clear:both;
overflow:hidden;
line-height:19px;
position: relative;
top: 20px;
z-index: 5;
height: 150px;
overflow: hidden;
}

p { padding-left: 15px; }
That’s all you need to do in the css file. Let’s go to the HTML file now.

Wherever you want to place your horizontal tabs, place the following code:

<div id=”Tabs”>
<ul>
<li id=”li_tab1″ onclick=”tab(‘tab1′)” ><a>Tab 1</a></li>
<li id=”li_tab2″ onclick=”tab(‘tab2′)”><a>Tab 2</a></li>
</ul>
<div id=”Content_Area”>
<div id=”tab1″>
<p>This is the text for tab 1</p>
</div>

<div id=”tab2″ style=”display: none;”> <!– We set its display as none because we don’t want to make this
tab visible by default. The only visible/active tab should be Tab 1 until the visitor clicks on Tab 2. –>
<p>This is the text for tab 2.</p>
</div>
</div> <!– End of Content_Area Div –>
</div> <!– End of Tabs Div –>

At the end of your HTML file place the following javascript code. It is necessary for the tabs switching:
Code:
<script type=”text/javascript”>
function tab(tab) {
document.getElementById(‘tab1′).style.display = ‘none’;
document.getElementById(‘tab2′).style.display = ‘none’;
document.getElementById(‘li_tab1′).setAttribute(“class”, “”);
document.getElementById(‘li_tab2′).setAttribute(“class”, “”);
document.getElementById(tab).style.display = ‘block’;
document.getElementById(‘li_’+tab).setAttribute(“class”, “active”);
}
</script>
Posted by phudq90, 06-08-2011, 02:00 PM
Thanks for this greatful tutorial!
Posted by lost_wanderer, 06-10-2011, 11:55 AM
nice share! thanks
Posted by KirkHansen, 07-29-2011, 12:39 PM
Beautiful Tutorial. Thank you so much!
Posted by echh1993, 09-07-2011, 11:33 AM
Pretty good tutorial, I had some issues, but I solved it
Posted by toddt1, 12-10-2012, 05:14 PM
Would not work, even with the java and css in the header of the html file. I just saw white boxes with "Tab 1" and "Tab 2" and the text for tab 1 displayed. None of the styling or clicking worked.
Posted by Shinjiru Technology, 12-31-2012, 09:04 AM
Awesome tutorial. I combined the tutorial into one place, check it out.
Code:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />
<title>Untitled 1</title>

<style type="text/css">
#tabs ul {
padding: 0px;
margin: 0px;
margin-left: 10px;
list-style-type: none;
}

#tabs ul li {
display: inline-block;
clear: none;
float: left;
height: 24px;
}

#tabs ul li a {
position: relative;
margin-top: 16px;
display: block;
margin-left: 6px;
line-height: 24px;
padding-left: 10px;
background: #f6f6f6;
z-index: 9999;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
border-bottom: 0px;
-moz-border-radius-topleft: 4px;
border-top-left-radius: 4px;
-moz-border-radius-topright: 4px;
border-top-right-radius: 4px;
width: 130px;
color: #000000;
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
}

#tabs ul li a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}

#tabs #Content_Area {
padding: 0 15px;
clear:both;
overflow:hidden;
line-height:19px;
position: relative;
top: 20px;
z-index: 5;
height: 150px;
overflow: hidden;
}

p { padding-left: 15px; }
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
function tab(tab) {
document.getElementById('tab1').style.display = 'none';
document.getElementById('tab2').style.display = 'none';
document.getElementById('li_tab1').setAttribute("class", "");
document.getElementById('li_tab2').setAttribute("class", "");
document.getElementById(tab).style.display = 'block';
document.getElementById('li_'+tab).setAttribute("class", "active");
}
</script>

</head>

<body>

<div id="tabs">
<ul>
<li id="li_tab1" onclick="tab('tab1')"><a>Tab 1</a></li>
<li id="li_tab2" onclick="tab('tab2')"><a>Tab 2</a></li>
</ul>
<div id="Content_Area">
<div id="tab1">
<p>This is the text for tab 1</p>
</div>

<div id="tab2" style="display: none;">
<p>This is the text for tab 2.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Posted by DBCA-Designs, 02-11-2013, 04:43 PM
Thnaks for this tutorial I'm new in this domain and I'll try to learn from this.
Posted by tjjames_com, 02-14-2013, 10:36 PM
Collectively as you have built it, it works. However, that which was originally perceived by me, "creating separate css and html files," does not work "properly", thus, only results in a simple text display.
Posted by StaticHosting_c, 02-16-2013, 11:41 AM
Thanks for this! I was brand new to creating tabs and this will surely help me learn, thanks!
Posted by yesmike0215, 03-02-2013, 11:12 PM
Thanks for the great tutorial! Now how do I add three tabs, or four?
Posted by CHEWX, 08-28-2013, 05:43 PM
add extra lis for tabs, extra divs for content and extra javascript to make it work. Copy the second tab for all 3 and rename to 3, and 4 etc.
Posted by webAndys, 11-13-2013, 05:02 AM
thanks for sharing..
Posted by cubicle, 11-28-2013, 01:11 PM
Quick and easy tutorial, thanks!
Posted by kadajkoko, 12-06-2013, 07:21 AM
Great guide! Somehow i cannot make the third tab to work, it only shows the third tab but the content is empty. Help me please..