Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an LMS with React, Tailwind CSS, and Shadcn UI Part-1

Creating a Learning Management System (LMS) is a great way to put web development skills to practical use. In this series, we’ll walk through how to build an LMS with React, Tailwind CSS, and Shadcn UI. Our LMS will support three main roles: Admin, Teacher, and Student, each with its own set of functionalities. In this post, we’ll cover the setup, tech stack, and an overview of what each user role can do.

Tech Stack Overview

To bring our LMS to life, we’re using the following technologies:

• React: Our frontend framework, perfect for building user interfaces that are component-driven and responsive.

• Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework that makes styling faster and easier.

• Shadcn UI: A design system based on Tailwind CSS that helps build consistent, visually appealing interfaces with a set of reusable components.

This combination gives us a modern, efficient development setup that enables fast UI development with consistent styling across components.

Defining the Roles in Our LMS

An LMS is a multi-user application that serves different purposes for different user types. Here’s a quick overview of the roles we’ll support:

• Admin: Manages the entire LMS platform, including users, courses, and content management.

• Teacher: Manages courses and assignments, and interacts with students through announcements and feedback.

• Student: Enrol in courses, completes coursework, and tracks their own progress.

Each role will have specific functionalities that we’ll cover in detail in later posts.

Project Setup and Folder Structure

To get started, let’s set up the project:

1. Initialize a New React App:

   First, create a new React project using Vite or create-react-app. Here’s how to start with Vite:

    npm create vite@latest lms-app --template react
    cd lms-app
    npm install
   

2. Install Tailwind CSS:

   Tailwind CSS will help us build consistent and customizable UIs. Set it up by running:

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

   Then, configure Tailwind by adding the following in your tailwind.config.js:

    module.exports = {
      content: [
        "./src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}",
      ],
      theme: {
        extend: {},
      },
      plugins: [],
    }
   

3. Integrate Shadcn UI Components:

   To enhance UI consistency, we’ll use Shadcn UI. Import the required Shadcn components and adjust the styles to fit your brand.

LMS Roles and Functionalities: A Closer Look

Now that we have a basic setup, let’s outline the functionalities we’ll build for each role.

1. Admin Role

The Admin role will have complete access to manage the LMS. Here are some of the key features:

• User Management: Add, edit, or delete users (teachers and students).

• Course Management: Create, update, and delete courses. Assign teachers to courses and manage enrollments.

In future posts, we’ll dive deeper into creating these features with React components and manage permissions for the Admin role.

2. Teacher Role

Teachers are the main content creators and guides for students. The Teacher dashboard will include:

• Course Creation and Management: Create and edit courses, adding lessons, assignments, and quizzes.

• Student Monitoring: View enrolled students and track their performance on quizzes, assignments, and course progress.

• Assignment and Quiz Management: Post assignments, quizzes, and exams, and review submissions.

• Announcements and Updates: Communicate with students through announcements and feedback.

Teachers will interact with the student progress, so we’ll build a dashboard that displays a detailed overview.

3. Student Role

The Student role focuses on learning and tracking progress. Key features for students include:

• Course Enrollment: Enroll in available courses or view assigned courses.

• Coursework: Access lessons, submit assignments, and complete quizzes.

• Progress Tracking: View their progress within courses, including completed lessons, grades, and feedback from teachers.

• Announcements and Feedback: Receive notifications about course updates, assignment deadlines, and feedback.

The student dashboard will focus on a clean, user-friendly layout that provides quick access to enrolled courses, upcoming assignments, and important announcements.

Setting Up Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

In our LMS, we’ll use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to restrict access to different features based on the user’s role. Here’s a quick overview of how RBAC works:

1. Define User Roles: Define the roles (Admin, Teacher, Student) and map them to specific permissions.

2. Secure Routes: Set up protected routes in React so that only authorized users can access specific pages or perform certain actions.

3. Control Component Visibility: Conditionally render components based on the user’s role to ensure a secure, tailored experience.

To manage roles, we’ll create a simple authentication and authorization system that will check the user's role before granting access to different parts of the app.

UI Design Using Tailwind CSS and Shadcn UI

Since we’re building a multi-role system, it’s important to keep the design cohesive but adaptable. Here’s how Tailwind CSS and Shadcn UI will help:

• Tailwind CSS: Helps us create a uniform, responsive layout across different pages, reducing the complexity of custom styling.

• Shadcn UI: Provides a set of pre-styled, flexible UI components, such as buttons, modals, and forms. We can easily adjust these components to fit the unique needs of Admin, Teacher, and Student dashboards.

Next Steps

In this part, we’ve covered the basics of setting up the project and outlined the functionalities for each role. Here’s what to expect in Part 2:

• Implementing Authentication and Authorization: Setting up user authentication and securing the LMS based on roles.

• Building the Admin Dashboard: Developing a functional Admin dashboard for managing users and courses.

This project will give you hands-on experience in building a real-world application with React, Tailwind CSS, and Shadcn UI, while tackling role-based access control and designing a responsive, user-friendly UI.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive deeper into authentication, authorization, and building the Admin dashboard!