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CSS

Posted by Montalvo Miguelo
Montalvo Miguelo
24,789 Points

About BEM... What if I have nested __elements?

.list {
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;

    // element
    &__item {
        display: inline-block;

        // Can be placed an element inside another element like this?
        &__sub-item {
            display: none;

        }

        // modifier
        &--active {
            background: red;
        }

    }

}

3 Answers

Iain Simmons
MOD
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points
Iain Simmons
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points

I think it may depend on how you view the submenu items... if they are just slight modifications (say, different background color) of standard .list__item elements, then you could get away with just a modifier:

<li class="list__item list__item--sub"><a href="#">Foo</a></li>
<li class="list__item list__item--sub list__item--active"><a href="#">Bar</a></li>

If the submenu could be used in places other than the .list, then perhaps treat it as its own block, which you would then style completely independently of the list block:

<ul class="submenu">
  <li class="submenu__item"><a href="#">Foo</a></li>
  <li class="submenu__item"><a href="#">Bar</a></li>
</ul>

And finally, if the nested ul tag isn't going to be modified in anyway, and only the nested li tags, then I guess you could just treat them as different elements under another list block:

<li class="list__item">
  <a href="#">Sub</a>
  <ul class="list">
    <li class="list__submenu-item"><a href="#">Foo</a></li>
    <li class="list__submenu-item"><a href="#">Bar</a></li>
  </ul>
</li>

I think the main thing is that the submenu isn't dependent on being nested within a .list__item element.

Iain Simmons
MOD
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points
Iain Simmons
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points

I'm no expert on BEM, but I think part of its appeal is avoiding nested CSS selectors, since they introduce complexity and can cause issues with specificity.

I think whatever HTML you planned to have nested, should be its own 'block', and independent of the parent block/element it happens to be nested in, OR just uses the higher level block name, which in your case would mean `.list__sub-item'.

Maybe paste in your HTML structure and we can figure out an appropriate naming scheme?

Montalvo Miguelo
Montalvo Miguelo
24,789 Points
Montalvo Miguelo
Montalvo Miguelo
24,789 Points 
<ul class="list">
    <li class="list__item">
        <a href="#">Uno</a>
    </li>
    <li class="list__item">
        <a href="#">Dos</a>
    </li>
    <li class="list__item">
        <a href="#">Sub</a>
        <ul class="list__item__submenu">
            <li class="list__item__submenu__item"><a href="#">Foo</a></li>
            <li class="list__item__submenu__item"><a href="#">Bar</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>