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CSS

Posted by Chris Feltus
Chris Feltus
3,970 Points

Expanding Link Anchor Target Size (code pen inside)

Is there a way to expand the size of an anchor elements click target?

At the moment I have a navigation with some tabs. Currently, I have to specifically click the anchor text to visit the link, and show the tab as selected. The click target is very narrow as a result, represented by a pink rectangle in the image below.

As the site currently is: alt text

Is it possible to expand the anchors click target so it takes up the entirety of the tab? In other words, I would like to be able to click anywhere within the tab to visit the link.

Here is a mock up of how I would like it to work. Notice, if I mouse over anywhere within the tab it allows me to click the link, and how the click target (represented by a pink rectangle) is very wide, encapsulating the whole tab. alt text

Here is the codepen http://codepen.io/bluehabit/pen/KweBLY

Thanks in advance. I am fairly certain this can be done with CSS, but I haven't had much luck. I thought if I increased the padding of the a element that would work, but no dice.

3 Answers

rydavim
rydavim
18,811 Points
rydavim
rydavim
18,811 Points

If you remove the padding from your .tabs-menu li rule and add it to the link rule instead, I think that should do what you want.

EDIT - the display: block rule makes the padding behave like you want. That may be what was missing?

.tabs-menu li {
    display: inline-block;
    margin-left: 5px;
    background-image: linear-gradient(#0076f6, #0368d6);
    border-top-right-radius: 10px;
    border-top-left-radius: 10px;
    max-width: 15%;
    width: 15%;
    border-left: 1px solid black;
    border-right: 1px solid black;
    border-top: 1px solid black;
    text-decoration: none;
}

.tabs-menu a {
  display: block; 
  padding: 20px;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: #fff;
  font-weight: bold;
}
mtch
mtch
8,521 Points
mtch
mtch
8,521 Points

rydavim was quicker, I am posting the working pen anyway.

http://codepen.io/mtch/pen/OPEBbV

Alan Winfrey
Alan Winfrey
2,953 Points
Alan Winfrey
Alan Winfrey
2,953 Points

Edit: same answer as mtch

This may not be the preferred way, but it works. Reverse the nesting of the a and li elements to get a block-level link: e.g.

<a href='#' data-ogg='tab1'><li>Manipulation</li></a>

Then the anchor element has a clickable area equal to the li element. See link