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CSS

Posted by Kristian Woods
Kristian Woods
23,414 Points

How do you create a basic dropdown menu with CSS?

Hey, I'm trying to create a basic 3 link drowndown menu, that displays on hover

I've set the dropdown menu content to display: none, and I'm trying to display the menu when you hover over the "Course Material" link. However, the dropdown menu fails to display.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

<header class="main-header">
        <ul class="main-nav">
            <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="genInfo.html">General Information</a></li>
            <li><a href="techHome.html" class="drop-link">Course Material</a></li>
            <li><a href="gamesHome.html">Games</a></li>
        </ul>
        <div class="dropdown-content">
                <a href="#">LINK1</a>
                <a href="#">LINK2</a>
                <a href="#">LINK3</a>
            </div>
    </header><!--/.main-header--> 

.drop-link {
    position: relative;
    display: inline-block;
}

.dropdown-content {
    display: none;
    position: absolute;
    top: 50px;
    right: 50px;
    border-radius: .5em;
    background-color: #f9f9f9;
    min-width: 160px;
    box-shadow: 0px 8px 16px 0px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    padding: 12px 16px;
    border: 1px solid #5ecafa;
}


.dropdown-content a {
    color: black;
    padding: 12px 16px;
    text-decoration: none;
    display: block;
}

.dropdown-content a:hover {
    background-color: #f1f1f1;
}

.drop-link:hover .dropdown-content {
    display: block;
}

2 Answers

Kallil Belmonte
Kallil Belmonte
35,561 Points
Kallil Belmonte
Kallil Belmonte
35,561 Points

Through CSS, you would need to restructure your HTML, this way you could select the dropdown-content inside the drop-item.

.drop-item:hover .dropdown-content {
    display: block;
}

<header class="main-header">
        <ul class="main-nav">
            <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="genInfo.html">General Information</a></li>
            <li  class="drop-item">
                <a href="techHome.html">Course Material</a>
                <div class="dropdown-content">
                    <a href="#">LINK1</a>
                    <a href="#">LINK2</a>
                    <a href="#">LINK3</a>
               </div>
            </li>
            <li><a href="gamesHome.html">Games</a></li>
        </ul>
    </header><!--/.main-header-->
Kristian Woods
Kristian Woods
23,414 Points

Hey, Kallil, thank you for both methods!

Kallil Belmonte
Kallil Belmonte
35,561 Points
Kallil Belmonte
Kallil Belmonte
35,561 Points

You can do this via jQuery:

$('.drop-link').hover(function(){
    $('.dropdown-content').css("display", "block");
});

Or...

$('.drop-link').hover(function(){
    $('.dropdown-content').show();
});

jQuery - css() Method:

http://www.w3schools.com/jquery/jquery_css.asp

jQuery Effects - Hide and Show:

http://www.w3schools.com/jquery/jquery_hide_show.asp