How TO - Dropdown Navbar
Learn how to create a dropdown navigation bar.
Dropdown Menu in Navbar
Create A Dropdown Navbar
Create a dropdown menu that appears when the user moves the mouse over an element inside a navigation bar.
Step 1) Add HTML:
Example
<div class="navbar">
<a href="#home">Home</a>
<a href="#news">News</a>
<div class="dropdown">
<button class="dropbtn">Dropdown
<i class="fa fa-caret-down"></i>
</button>
<div class="dropdown-content">
<a href="#">Link 1</a>
<a href="#">Link
2</a>
<a href="#">Link 3</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Example Explained
Use any element to open the dropdown menu, e.g. a <button>, <a> or <p> element.
Use a container element (like <div>) to create the dropdown menu and add the dropdown links inside it.
Wrap a <div> element around the button and the <div> to position the dropdown menu correctly with CSS.
Step 2) Add CSS:
Example
/* Navbar container */
.navbar {
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #333;
font-family: Arial;
}
/* Links inside the navbar */
.navbar a {
float: left;
font-size: 16px;
color: white;
text-align: center;
padding: 14px 16px;
text-decoration:
none;
}
/* The dropdown
container */
.dropdown {
float: left;
overflow: hidden;
}
/* Dropdown button */
.dropdown .dropbtn {
font-size: 16px;
border: none;
outline: none;
color: white;
padding: 14px 16px;
background-color: inherit;
font-family:
inherit; /* Important for vertical align on mobile phones */
margin:
0; /* Important for vertical align on mobile phones */
}
/* Add a
red background color to navbar links on hover */
.navbar a:hover, .dropdown:hover .dropbtn {
background-color: red;
}
/* Dropdown content (hidden by default) */
.dropdown-content {
display:
none;
position: absolute;
background-color: #f9f9f9;
min-width: 160px;
box-shadow: 0px 8px 16px 0px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
z-index: 1;
}
/* Links inside the dropdown */
.dropdown-content a
{
float: none;
color: black;
padding: 12px 16px;
text-decoration: none;
display: block;
text-align: left;
}
/* Add a grey background color to dropdown links
on hover */
.dropdown-content a:hover {
background-color: #ddd;
}
/*
Show the dropdown menu on hover */
.dropdown:hover .dropdown-content {
display: block;
}
Try it Yourself »
Example Explained
We have styled the navigation bar and the navbar links with a background-color, padding, etc.
We have styled the dropdown button with a background-color, padding, etc.
The .dropdown class is the container for
.dropdown-content. Since this is a <div> element, and not an
<a> element, we have to float it to make sure that it stays next to the links.
The .dropdown-content class holds the actual dropdown menu. It is hidden by
default, and will be displayed on hover (see below). Note the min-width is set to 160px. Feel free to change
this.
Instead of using a border, we have used the box-shadow property to make the
dropdown menu look like a "card". We also use z-index to place the dropdown in
front of other elements.
The :hover selector is used to show the dropdown menu when the user moves the
mouse over the dropdown button.
Clickable Dropdown in Navbar
Tip: Go to our CSS Dropdowns Tutorial to learn more about dropdowns.
Tip: Go to our Clickable Dropdowns to learn more about clickable dropdowns
Tip: Go to our CSS Navbar Tutorial to learn more about navbars.
Tip: Go to our Responsive Top Navigation to learn about how to create a responsive navbar.