Create A Multi-Level Drop Down Menu with Pure CSS

Category: CSS & CSS3 , Menu & Navigation | June 21, 2014

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AUTHOR:	twodogstar
VIEWS TOTAL:	189,896 views
OFFICIAL PAGE:	Go to website
LAST UPDATE:	June 21, 2014
LICENSE:	Unknown

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Preview:

Description:

A flat designed multi-level drop down menu built with plain Html markup and pure CSS. Created by twodogstar.

See Also:

• 10 Best Responsive Dropdown Menus In JavaScript And/Or Pure CSS

How to use it:

Code your multi-level dropdown menu using nested Html lists as follows.

<ul class="main-navigation">
  <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Front End Design</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">HTML</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">CSS</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="#">Resets</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Grids</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Frameworks</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li><a href="#">JavaScript</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="#">Ajax</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">jQuery</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">WordPress Development</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Themes</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Plugins</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Custom Post Types</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="#">Portfolios</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Testimonials</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li><a href="#">Options</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">About Us</a></li>
</ul>

Set the parent <li>’s CSS position property to ‘relative’.

ul {
  list-style: none;
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
  background: #1bc2a2;
}

ul li {
  display: block;
  position: relative;
  float: left;
  background: #1bc2a2;
}

The CSS to hide the sub menus.

li ul { display: none; }

ul li a {
  display: block;
  padding: 1em;
  text-decoration: none;
  white-space: nowrap;
  color: #fff;
}

ul li a:hover { background: #2c3e50; }

Displays the dropdown menu on hover.

li:hover > ul {
  display: block;
  position: absolute;
}

li:hover li { float: none; }

li:hover a { background: #1bc2a2; }

li:hover li a:hover { background: #2c3e50; }

.main-navigation li ul li { border-top: 0; }

Displays second level dropdown menus to the right of the first level dropdown menu.

ul ul ul {
  left: 100%;
  top: 0;
}

Simple clearfix.

ul:before,
ul:after {
  content: " "; /* 1 */
  display: table; /* 2 */
}

ul:after { clear: both; }