This is my first guide, i have no idea how to do these guides, but I believe if anyone is out here looking to play Taric on top lane, you must have some experience and knowledge with Taric, so I won't be putting chunks of information about how and what to play about Taric unlike other guides. If u need more information on how Taric skills works, check out wikia or some other in depth guides that would provide them. Below is roughly why this build is good for Taric being a fighter instead of the usual support. However he does have a lot of counters and is extremely difficult to play on top lane, I would not recommend someone picking this and doing in rank unless your opponent picks a Garen or something easy. Lastly I'm a Silver-Gold Elo Player, so feel free to judge me wrong. Drop me a comment for questions, or opinions are also welcomed.

Pros
1. He has the sustain of a tank that is require of a top lane.
2. He has damage as a tank.
3. Playing top allows him to have more gold than being support resulting in earlier tanks.
4. Having damage and sustain, making him more beneficial to team than being support.
5. Ultimate and W Aura is insanely useful in team fights.
6. GEM KNIGHT.

Cons
1. He is a meele Champion
2. He relies strictly on building armor, so AP champions are his weaknesses.
3. He has many counters in this lane
4. He relies on Chaining Spells and AA Combos.
5. He has short range spells.
6. He is required to stick to his enemies.
7. Lower Movement Speed than average champions.
8. Pretty Useless as the games gets longer.
9. Has Low Mana Capacity
10. Requires a lot of CDR
11. Has Low Health Capacity

Well Despite so many Cons, Taric top lane is no doubt absolutely fun when against a good match up.
As a Solo Lane, Q is more effective as it heals much more when cast on only self, which gives much more sustain. However there are times where you should max E over Q when necessary against Champion who are easy match up as listed above. Since they can not deal much damage against you. For example against a Garen, you need more CDR on your E to stop his E instead of healing from the damage taken.
W gives you armor, and the bonus armor it gives is actually considered 2 buffs/passives. First of all W gives off an aura that grants fixed bonus armor that is equals to 12% of your armor.
Then it also gives additional armor to self, when it is not on cooldown as a side passive.
When using W, all is lost is only the passive, the aura still remains. The passive lost is a small amount, so in return you shreds your opponents armor. Well even though, W deals magic damage, so shredding armor is pretty useless, but it would be when in team fights.

There isn't much tricks to E, just more damage when closer, so surprise ambush is the best way to delete your opponents.

R is mainly just your widest range AOE spell, the damage is the main thing here, since the bonus AD and AP only strengthens your AA, Q and E respectively for just short time of 10 seconds. But this 10 seconds is extremely useful in team fights, so go ahead and smash it right before engaging even though not dealing any damage with it.

In Simple Terms, the engage sequence or play style of top lane Taric is simple.
In Early Game (First 10 minutes of the game, at least level 3), Walks up in enemy face > W > AA > E > AA > Q > AA > W > AA. This Should do the job, remember to activate your corruption potion before engaging and also checking if you have sufficient mana and proper wards to see if enemy jungle is coming.
In Mid Game (10 - 25 Minutes), Walks up into enemy face > W > AA > E > AA > Q/R > AA > W/Q> AA > R/W > AA > Then whatever spells you have available > AA and repeat until you kill them all. 2 Spell like these E/R and meaning in respective orders along the line.
In Late Game ( After 35 Minutes), In this time you should be dealing much less damage now, just play the role of engage in your team as well as tank and going for their adc or something. You should learn how to use your combos by now. Using Ultimate early is recommended here, since it would be a team battle and the passive aura benefits the team in battle.