Space vs. Gap — Tailwind CSS Explained

Question

Tailwind is an awesome resource when styling web applications. It’s fast, lightweight, and easy to use once you get used to the class-first syntax. But what do you use when you need to add some spacing between items — gap or space?
Let’s get into it.

What do I use?

To tackle this question, let’s create a scenario. We’ll be using three boxes represented by divs in an HTML document.

<section>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-300">Box 1</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-400">Box 2</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-500">Box 3</div>
</section>

In this example, there are three boxes we need to add some spacing to. Normally, the way to go about this would be to:

• Use a flex layout on the section parent element and add a gap value to create space.

• Use a margin on each box.

But what happens when there’s no need to use a flex layout or margin? What do we use?

That’s where the space Tailwind class comes in. Picture it as what gap is capable of in a grid or flex layout, but without the flex/grid. So let's see a side-by-side comparison.

<!-- with tailwind space -->
<section class="space-5">
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-300">Box 1</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-400">Box 2</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-500">Box 3</div>
</section>

<!-- with tailwind gap -->
<section class="flex gap-5">
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-300">Box 1</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-400">Box 2</div>
  <div class="w-48 h-48 bg-slate-500">Box 3</div>
</section>

In the first code block, using Tailwind spacecreates spacing between the items in the section element. The main difference is that when using gap, a flex or grid layout is required, whereas when using space, it's not.

This is something I discovered earlier when exploring more of what Tailwind CSS can do in my projects.

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Hopefully, this article has helped to simplify the gap vs. space concept in Tailwind. For more detailed documentation, please visit the official Tailwind docs: Tailwind gap vs. Tailwind space.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day.
Ciao