Dynamic Drive CSS Library- Nested Side Bar Menu

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Nested Side Bar Menu

Author: Dynamic Drive

This is a simple yet professional looking multi level side menu. Markup wise it's just a regular nested UL list, turned into a drop down menu using a very small JavaScript code. Note that the menu's background should be a solid color instead of a background image, as the later property is reserved to show the right arrow images that appear next to menu items with additional sub menus.

Demo:

The Right Arrow Image:

The CSS:

<style type="text/css">

.sidebarmenu ul{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style-type: none;
font: bold 13px Verdana;
width: 180px; /* Main Menu Item widths */
border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc;
}
 
.sidebarmenu ul li{
position: relative;
}

/* Top level menu links style */
.sidebarmenu ul li a{
display: block;
overflow: auto; /*force hasLayout in IE7 */
color: white;
text-decoration: none;
padding: 6px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #778;
border-right: 1px solid #778;
}

.sidebarmenu ul li a:link, .sidebarmenu ul li a:visited, .sidebarmenu ul li a:active{
background-color: #012D58; /*background of tabs (default state)*/
}

.sidebarmenu ul li a:visited{
color: white;
}

.sidebarmenu ul li a:hover{
background-color: black;
}

/*Sub level menu items */
.sidebarmenu ul li ul{
position: absolute;
width: 170px; /*Sub Menu Items width */
top: 0;
visibility: hidden;
}

.sidebarmenu a.subfolderstyle{
background: url(right.gif) no-repeat 97% 50%;
}

 
/* Holly Hack for IE \*/
* html .sidebarmenu ul li { float: left; height: 1%; }
* html .sidebarmenu ul li a { height: 1%; }
/* End */

</style>

<script type="text/javascript">

//Nested Side Bar Menu (Mar 20th, 09)
//By Dynamic Drive: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/style/

var menuids=["sidebarmenu1"] //Enter id(s) of each Side Bar Menu's main UL, separated by commas

function initsidebarmenu(){
for (var i=0; i<menuids.length; i++){
  var ultags=document.getElementById(menuids<i>).getElementsByTagName("ul")
    for (var t=0; t<ultags.length; t++){
    ultags[t].parentNode.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].className+=" subfolderstyle"
  if (ultags[t].parentNode.parentNode.id==menuids<i>) //if this is a first level submenu
   ultags[t].style.left=ultags[t].parentNode.offsetWidth+"px" //dynamically position first level submenus to be width of main menu item
  else //else if this is a sub level submenu (ul)
    ultags[t].style.left=ultags[t-1].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].offsetWidth+"px" //position menu to the right of menu item that activated it
    ultags[t].parentNode.onmouseover=function(){
    this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.display="block"
    }
    ultags[t].parentNode.onmouseout=function(){
    this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.display="none"
    }
    }
  for (var t=ultags.length-1; t>-1; t--){ //loop through all sub menus again, and use "display:none" to hide menus (to prevent possible page scrollbars
  ultags[t].style.visibility="visible"
  ultags[t].style.display="none"
  }
  }
}

if (window.addEventListener)
window.addEventListener("load", initsidebarmenu, false)
else if (window.attachEvent)
window.attachEvent("onload", initsidebarmenu)

</script>

The HTML:

<div class="sidebarmenu">
<ul id="sidebarmenu1">
<li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Folder 1</a>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="#">Sub Item 1.1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Sub Item 1.2</a></li>
  </ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Item 3</a></li>

<li><a href="#">Folder 2</a>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2.1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Folder 2.1</a>
    <ul>
    <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2.1.1</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2.1.2</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2.1.3</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2.1.4</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Item 4</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

Code Info

Rate this code:

Date Posted: 03/20/2009

Revision History: None

Usage Terms: Click here

Your Comments (24)

Got a question or need help customizing this CSS code? Post it in the CSS Forums. If you have a comment or suggestion instead, post it in the comments section below.

Comment Pages 3 of 3 pages < 1 2 3

Thanks for the code; it's great! =)

http://www.thinkflick.com/freebies/apple-mac-style-image-gallery/

Posted by Wpdigger on 06/02, 09:35 PM

the sub menu text color did not change, how can change it to gray?

Posted by ben on 06/05, 02:40 AM

Posted by senthilkumar.g on 06/06, 03:17 AM

<div id="container">
<div id="header_container">
<div id="pre_header"></div>
<div class="header"><h1 id="header"><span>Stako(မဂၤလာပါ)</span></h1></div>
<div id="post_header"></div>
</div>
<div id="nav_container">
<h2 id="nav_heading"><span></span></h2>
<ul id="nav">

<li class="nav_element checked_menu" id="nav_Home"></li>

<li class="nav_element subpage" id="nav_MainStako"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_MailsService"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_WikiSTAKO4"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_AboutMyanmar"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_burmanews"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_niknayman"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_sharingyoochun"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_tenissrbija2008"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_Calculator"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_secondwin"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_learnphotoshop"></li>

<li class="nav_element" id="nav_Gallery"></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="content_container">
<div id="pre_content"></div>
<div id="content">

Posted by STAKO on 06/10, 09:08 AM

Comment Pages 3 of 3 pages < 1 2 3

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