Create The Fanciest Dropdown Menu You Ever Saw
Posted on 26. Jul, 2009 by Web Design in Web Development
Good evening web designers. I hope you have all had a great weekend, and are ready to start the working week tomorrow. I have something very special to share with you today. Back in June when I wrote the post 21 Beautiful And Creative Navigation Menus, we had a comment from Brian Cray, in which he shared his menu with us. After speaking with Brian, he agreed to write a tutorial for us on how he created his website navigation menu.
Recently he has changed his website design and the layout, but this tutorial is sweet, and one amazing navigation! Here is a bit about Brian…
About Brian…
Brian Cray writes a blog that helps web 2.0 professionals build better websites. Among other things, he is known for his development of Nearby Tweets and PXtoEM.com. Feel free to follow him on Twitter.
Be sure to check out some of the services that Brian provides, and if you have any questions for Brian feel free to drop in a comment and im sure he will reply.
What will you be building?
Contents…
- Making a basic dropdown menu that works
- Making the basic menu look fancy
- The final result with files
* * * * *
1. Making a basic dropdown that works
Web designers and developers find themselves creating dropdown menus over and over. I’ve drilled dropdown menu production to a science. Seriously. Here’s the benefits of Brian Cray’s basic dropdown menu code:
- Can be put anywhere on site in a matter of seconds
- Forces no styling on the menu, but adapts to ANY styling
- Can handle multiple dropdown levels gracefully
- Covers variable-width tabs and dropdown menus
- Semantic – only two classes needed on an otherwise plain UL
Here’s what the basic dropdown looks like
Let’s go over my dropdown menu code first as it provides the basis for the fanciest dropdown menu you ever saw.
The basic HTML
You’ve seen this kind of thing a million times. But take notice of the two UL classes: tabs and dropdown.
[html]<ul class="tabs">
<li><a href="#">Dropdown 1</a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Menu item 1</a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Submenu item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Submenu item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Submenu item 1</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 5</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Dropdown 2</a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Menu item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 5</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Dropdown 3</a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Menu item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 5</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>[/html]
The tabs class makes the first UL a horizontal tab bar. The dropdown class makes the other UL dropdown menus. Simple, right?
The basic CSS
This CSS sets and resets the necessary styles so you don’t have to worry about your menu inheriting a bunch of crap that will make the menu look unexpected.
[css]/* tabs
*************************/
ul.tabs
{
display: table;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style: none;
position: relative;
}
ul.tabs li
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style: none;
display: table-cell;
float: left;
position: relative;
}
ul.tabs a
{
position: relative;
display: block;
}
/* dropdowns
*************************/
ul.dropdown
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
position: absolute;
z-index: 999;
top: 100%;
width: 250px;
display: none;
left: 0;
}
ul.dropdown ul.dropdown
{
top: 0;
left: 95%;
}
ul.dropdown li
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
float: none;
position: relative;
list-style: none;
display: block;
}
ul.dropdown li a
{
display: block;
}[/css]
The basic jQuery
The jQuery behind this is genius. It will pick up ANY dropdown class on the page and turn it into a working dropdown menu.
[js]$(function () {
$(’.dropdown’).each(function () {
$(this).parent().eq(0).hover(function () {
$(’.dropdown:eq(0)’, this).show();
}, function () {
$(’.dropdown:eq(0)’, this).hide();
});
});
});[/js]
And that’s all you need to add to each project to create dropdown menus in a flash! Now lets take this concept a step farther and REALLY light up the show.
2. Making the basic menu look fancy
Here’s what the fancy menu looks like that we’ll create below
The first thing to do to make something fancy is to add colors and images.
The images
The fancy HTML: what we’ve changed
- Wrapped everything in a #menu div
- Added h4 elements to add another layer to the menu’s organization
- Added a “hasmore” class to the menu items containing dropdown menus
- Added a “last” class to the last menu item in dropdown menus
- Added a
<span>element around the main menu items
[html]<div id="menu">
<ul class="tabs">
<li><h4><a href="#">In the blog »</a></h4></li>
<li class="hasmore"><a href="#"><span>Recent</span></a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Menu item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Menu item 5</a></li>
<li class="last"><a href="#">Menu item 6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="hasmore"><a href="#"><span>Topics</span></a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Topic 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Topic 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Topic 3</a></li>
<li class="last"><a href="#">Topic 4</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#"><span><strong><img src="images/feed-icon-14×14.png" width="14" height="14" alt="RSS"> Subscribe to RSS</strong></span></a></li>
<li><h4><a href="#">Elsewhere »</a></h4></li>
<li><a href="#"><span>About</span></a></li>
<li class="hasmore"><a href="/about/#networks"><span>Networks</span></a>
<ul class="dropdown">
<li><a href="#">Twitter</a></li>
<li><a href="#">posterous</a></li>
<li><a href="#">SpeakerSite</a></li>
<li><a href="#">LinkedIn</a></li>
<li class="last"><a href="#">See more…</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#"><span>Bookmarks</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>[/html]
The fancy CSS: what we’ve added
- Added the
* {margin:0; padding:0}simple reset hack (I know, there are better resets) - Styled to body
- Removed underline from links
- Styled the menu heavily
[css]/* hack reset (for production, use Yahoo! reset CSS)
*************************/
*
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
/* body
*************************/
body
{
font: 14px/21px Georgia, serif;
color: #370707;
background: #e3d79b url(images/mainbg.jpg) left 40px repeat-x;
}
/* links
*************************/
a:link, a:visited, a:hover, a:active
{
text-decoration: none;
}
/* inline elements
*************************/
strong
{
font-weight: bold;
}
/* menu-specifc
*************************/
#menu
{
position: fixed;
z-index: 5;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 40px;
line-height: 40px;
background: #ffb35a url(images/topbg.gif) repeat-x;
border-bottom: 1px solid #000;
}
#menu ul
{
margin: 0 auto;
}
#menu ul li.hasmore
{
background: url(images/drophighlight.png) no-repeat center 27px;
}
#menu ul li h4
{
margin: 0;
}
#menu ul li h4 a
{
font-size: 14px;
color: #000;
font-weight: bold;
padding: 0 15px;
}
#menu ul li a
{
color: #9b2021;
padding-left: 4px;
}
#menu ul li a img
{
vertical-align: middle;
}
#menu ul li a:hover
{
background: url(images/topselectionleft.png) top left no-repeat;
}
#menu ul li a span
{
display: block;
padding: 0 15px 0 11px;
}
#menu ul li a:hover span
{
background: url(images/topselectionright.png) top right;
}
#menu ul.dropdown
{
padding: 10px;
background-image: url(images/dropdown.png);
overflow:hidden;
border-bottom: 1px solid #dc902f;
width: 290px;
}
#menu ul.dropdown li a
{
border-bottom: 1px solid #e5cd8e;
line-height: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
height: 30px;
}
#menu ul.dropdown li.last a
{
border-bottom-width: 0;
}
#menu ul.dropdown li a:hover
{
background: url(images/menuarrow.png) no-repeat left center;
}
#menu ul li h4 a:hover
{
background-image: none;
}[/css]
The fancy jQuery: what we’ve changed
- Used the hoverIntent jQuery plugin by Brian Cherne instead of jQuery’s default hover to prevent unintended dropdown menus
- Used the easing jQuery plugin by GSGD to add a visual effect to dropdown menu items
- Changed the default dropdown menu show() and hide() functions to slideDown() and fadeOut() to add some pizzazz (without being annoying)
- Preloaded the images necessary to make the menu happen
[js]$(function () {
$(’.dropdown’).each(function () {
$(this).parent().eq(0).hoverIntent({
timeout: 100,
over: function () {
var current = $(’.dropdown:eq(0)’, this);
current.slideDown(100);
},
out: function () {
var current = $(’.dropdown:eq(0)’, this);
current.fadeOut(200);
}
});
});
$(’.dropdown a’).hover(function () {
$(this).stop(true).animate({paddingLeft: ‘35px’}, {speed: 100, easing: ‘easeOutBack’});
}, function () {
$(this).stop(true).animate({paddingLeft: ‘0′}, {speed: 100, easing: ‘easeOutBounce’});
});
pic1 = new Image(310, 672);
pic1.src = "images/dropdown.png";
pic2 = new Image(4, 40);
pic2.src = "images/dropselectionleft.png";
pic3 = new Image(394, 40);
pic3.src = "images/dropselectionright.png";
});[/js]
3. The final result with files
Congratulations! You’ve walked through creating the fanciest menu ever! Here are the files this menu uses:
- fancydropdown.js – combines jQuery, easing plugin, hoverIntent plugin, and fancy dropdown menu code
- fancydropdown.css – combines dropdown menu styling and fancy menu styling
- fancydropdown.html – the HTML of the fancy menu
- fancydropdownimages.zip – all of the images used to create the fancy menu
- fancydropdown.zip – all of the files used to create the fancy menu
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Brian Cray
26. Jul, 2009
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to write for WebDesignDev. I hope (and I’m sure) people will love it
Len
11. Aug, 2009
Hi,
The Fanciest Dropdown Menu looks great.
But I wondered whether you could help me.
The menu in Dreamweaver is vertical even though in the browser its horizontal.
This makes my layout in Dreamweaver look messy.
Is there any code I have to add to rectify this.
Thanks very much for any advice.
Kind Regards, Len
Maree
27. Jul, 2009
Thanks Brian (and WebDesignDev).
Drop down menus are a mainstay of any serious web developer’s arsenal and most people have their own robust standard way of doing it.
Despite this, there are still thousands of basic tutorials on how to hang them together – all doing things differently, and few nicely.
I have not yet played with JQuery, and I must admit that was the only reason I looked at what I thought would be yet another rehash. I enjoyed reading a well written tutorial and seeing a well built base menu, that become easy to extend.
Most of all, I am now inspired to explore JQuery further, as it no longer looks scary and new, or too complex for the low budget small business sites I do.
Andy
27. Jul, 2009
Jquery is very easy. Just a few lines of code. I always go shopping on their website for my effects, and modify the code for what i want it to do.
Legacy
27. Jul, 2009
i’m new to jquery but love how i’ve redesigned my site using it for horizontal display. this tut is glorious and easy to understand as well as tweek for my client’s design wishes. good stuff…keep it up.
=^,^=
vasu
27. Jul, 2009
nice tuts after long time. thanks
dlv
27. Jul, 2009
this is really nice!! smooth effects and easy to implement … cool, congrats!
thanks for share
SliceMachine
27. Jul, 2009
Really great…thanks
Dec
27. Jul, 2009
Nice, I may have to nick this
Though it would’ve been nice to have the JS seperate from the plugin files.
Dicky
27. Jul, 2009
This tutorial is easy to follow, and i like the smooth animation when you scroll over the links. Thanks!
Xavier
27. Jul, 2009
Thanks Brian for this article. The result is amazing!
Oliver
27. Jul, 2009
A great tutorial and easy to follow. I’ve never really tried drop down menus on my sites but this tutorial will help a lot. Thanks.
Luke
27. Jul, 2009
I’m a huge fan of jQuery and always wondered about the programming of the drop downs on your site ever since I saw your blog Brian. Thanks for the nice tutorial. I definitely picked up some really great tips for my next drop down menu.
Hezi
27. Jul, 2009
ROCK-N-ROLL!!!!
Paulo
27. Jul, 2009
Great article!
One thing to watch out for is this solution requires javascript to open the sub-menus. Ideally we would want to update it to use pure CSS drop-downs (a la Sons of Suckerfish ) while adding the cool affects to those with javascript enabled. Sort of how the Superfish plugin does it
Andy
28. Jul, 2009
Agree with Paulo – plus, the drop downs should open on a:focus in the CSS too, at the moment it only works on hover, making it keyboard-inaccessible.
Brian Cray
28. Jul, 2009
Andy: Good point on the a:focus – never thought of that before!
mary
28. Jul, 2009
Nice one, look forward to giving it a try. Thanks Brian, excellent work
Heru
01. Aug, 2009
Nice……
Moksha Solutions
08. Aug, 2009
I was looking for a menu tutorial. I hope it solve my problem, it look Simple and Great. thanks
web
09. Aug, 2009
this really helped on my site
stian
18. Aug, 2009
Ey! I loved this tutorial, but I kind of have a problem. I cant link some of the “buttons”, and I changed the pics and the “dropdown” pic wont show..
could anyone help me?
Cory
19. Aug, 2009
ahhhh shoot me now not that damn reset.
* { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
That has to be the worst line of CSS ever.
Gus
30. Aug, 2009
This menu was a godsend after I struggled for a week trying other similar ones. But I still have one issue:
In restyling the css for my needs, I’ve somehow affected one selector that now causes IE6 to display headings much larger than the intended size. There’s no problem with FireFox browsers at all.
I should mention that all of the dropdown headings are fine on both browsers. It’s only the main headings that render far too large in IE.
If someone has encountered this and can suggest where I’d look for a remedy, I’m entirely grateful.
Gus
09. Sep, 2009
Ten days have gone by, but nobody’s responded to the post above. If it’s because the problem is a bit bewildering, then let me try to offer more information:
This could be relevent: I always set my body’s font size to 62.5% for reasons I think everyone knows. Accordingly, all fonts seem to work just fine at approximately 1em — or whatever.
I note that the demo for this script displays typefaces the same in IE as they do in Firefox. But I’ve modified my css a bit, mostly removing unused selectors.
Could it be that I’ve changed a selector that’s critical to maintaining the font size in IE? To compensate for the larger font now displayed in IE, I’ve tried a few CSS hacks. This works, of course, but it also creates a different problem: Applying essentially two different font sizes within the container now wreaks havoc with the container’s height and placement.
Help! I’d sure appreciate a few thoughts from anyone who might be able to shed some light.
Mike
30. Sep, 2009
Anybody run into a conflict with other jquery plugins on the same page? Dropdown functionality is lost when I add jquery cycle to the page…thank you.
My Webmaster Tips
09. Oct, 2009
Great article and explanation of the basic menu and with the added abilities of the menu. I think this might be the menu I end up going with thanks to your very well written instructions for use.
plumpnation
16. Oct, 2009
Yeah, I’ve run into not only other jQuery script conflicts that stop the dropdowns working, but also things like lightbox and lightwindow. I’m getting a z-index issue in ie6 too, but that’s probably just something buried in my CSS.
gkiller
28. Oct, 2009
Great tutorial. However, the drop-down menus fall behind other elements in the page when running in IE 7. The z-index is set to 999 for the .dropdown in your CSS and I tried various values for the z-index on each element – still the same behavior.
We have a jQuery news slider that appears below it and the drop menus fall behind the content. We replaced it with a simple div containing a background image – still the same result.
Any ideas or suggestions?
gkiller
29. Oct, 2009
If you look at the demo in IE 7, the menu aligns to the left as opposed to the center in Firefox and Safari. There are also slight positioning differences in IE as compared to Firefox if you start to modify the styles.
Tomislav
05. Nov, 2009
You dude win!
thanks for the tut.
Rahul Rajbhoj
20. Nov, 2009
I like it dude…………………
very cool drop down it is………..
thnxs for sharing with us………………..keep it up.
Spiro K.
02. Dec, 2009
Can you please check the menu functioning when you make the drop down go slower ex. 600) and when you fast move the mouse out and back over the drop down it self!
lisa
05. Dec, 2009
Great tutorial, to bad the line from the jQuery JavaScript Library v1.3.2 makes this not to work with mootools 1.11
There are some other great jquery dropdown menus that do work with mootools and jquery
and are less than 2kb while this one is 45kb.
Thank you for sharing the code
Ashley
14. Dec, 2009
I love this! Thank you so much for sharing, and providing a great tutorial!
Ramsey
16. Dec, 2009
I too love this dropdown but agree with some of the others. Ideally it should downgrade to a CSS only dropdown, something similar to Suckerfish or Son of Suckerfish.
50 Best Web Design Blog Posts In 2009 | Web Design Tutorials | Creating a Website | Learn Adobe Flash, Photoshop and Dreamweaver
17. Dec, 2009
[...] A top tutorial here posted on our blog and written by Brian Cray. This menu is simply fantastic and is an easy tutorial to follow that’s broken up into many different steps for beginners and advanced web designers. Read More [...]
Gus
29. Dec, 2009
I’ve think I’ve tried everything under the sun to reduce line spacing for drop-down menu items. Unless I’m mistaken, no CSS selector seems to have the power to affect the spacing, and this is disappointing for designers who might not want to dedicate the entire space occupied by long drop-down items.
To compensate, I tried adding transparency to a background in the #menu ul.dropdown selector so that when drop-downs overlap page content, the content remains partially visible. Unfortunately there seems to be a bug in the script since transparency is provided on the initial page load but ignored on subsequent hovers.
Aside from these hurdles, this is a lovely menu with lots of flexibility. Still I appreciate any help I might get in solving my own small dilemmas.
Jaka
08. Jan, 2010
thans
Stazh
20. Jan, 2010
Great work! Thanks a lot!
Elijah
25. Jan, 2010
Thanks ! good Job
Best Web Designing Contest
02. Feb, 2010
Wow and wow I loved the new fanciest drop down menu a lot and now I am going to use this technique in my site and then post it in a contest running by grafikguru.com and I am sure I would win the prize.