Modern Shiny Apps with bslib

Build professional Shiny dashboards using bslib's Bootstrap 5 components and layouts. This skill focuses on modern UI/UX patterns that replace legacy Shiny approaches.

Quick Start

Single-page dashboard:

library(shiny)
library(bslib)

ui <- page_sidebar(
  title = "My Dashboard",
  theme = bs_theme(version = 5),  # "shiny" preset by default
  sidebar = sidebar(
    selectInput("variable", "Variable", choices = names(mtcars))
  ),
  layout_column_wrap(
    width = 1/3,
    fill = FALSE,
    value_box(title = "Users", value = "1,234", theme = "primary"),
    value_box(title = "Revenue", value = "$56K", theme = "success"),
    value_box(title = "Growth", value = "+18%", theme = "info")
  ),
  card(
    full_screen = TRUE,
    card_header("Plot"),
    plotOutput("plot")
  )
)

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  output$plot <- renderPlot({
    hist(mtcars[[input$variable]], main = input$variable)
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Multi-page dashboard:

ui <- page_navbar(
  title = "Analytics Platform",
  theme = bs_theme(version = 5),
  nav_panel("Overview", overview_ui),
  nav_panel("Analysis", analysis_ui),
  nav_panel("Reports", reports_ui)
)

Core Concepts

Page Layouts

• page_sidebar() -- Single-page dashboard with sidebar (most common)
• page_navbar() -- Multi-page app with top navigation bar
• page_fillable() -- Viewport-filling layout for custom arrangements
• page_fluid() -- Scrolling layout for long-form content

See page-layouts.md for detailed guidance.

Grid Systems

• layout_column_wrap() -- Uniform grid with auto-wrapping (recommended for most cases)
• layout_columns() -- 12-column Bootstrap grid with precise control

See grid-layouts.md for detailed guidance.

Cards