CSS Navigation Bar (Horizontal Menus)

Horizontal Navigation Bar

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There are two ways to create a horizontal navigation bar. Using inline or floating list items.

Inline List Items

One way to build a horizontal navigation bar is to specify the <li> elements as inline-block.

Example

li {
display: inline-block;
}

Example explained:

display: inline-block; - By default, <li> elements are block elements. Here, we remove the line breaks before and after each list item, to display them on one line

Floating List Items

Another way of creating a horizontal navigation bar is to float the <li> elements, and specify a layout for the navigation links:

Example

li {
float: left;
}

a {
display: block;
padding: 8px;
background-color: #dddddd;
}

Example explained:

float: left; - Use float to get block elements to float next to each other
display: block; - Allows us to specify padding (and height, width, margins, etc. if you want)
padding: 8px; - Specify some padding between each <a> element, to make them look good
background-color: #dddddd; - Add a gray background-color to each <a> element

Tip: Add the background-color to <ul> instead of each <a> element if you want a full-width background color:

Example

ul {
background-color: #dddddd;
}

Horizontal Navigation Bar Examples

Create a basic horizontal navigation bar with a dark background color and change the background color of the links when the user moves the mouse over them:

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Example

ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #333;
}

li {
float: left;
}

li a {
display: block;
color: white;
text-align: center;
padding: 14px 16px;
text-decoration: none;
}

/* Change the link color to #111 (black) on hover */
li a:hover {
background-color: #111;
}

Active/Current Navigation Link

Add an "active" class to the current link to let the user know which page he/she is on:

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Example

.active {
background-color: #0054ff;
}

Right-Align Links

Right-align links by floating the list items to the right (float:right;):

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Example

<ul>
<li><a href="#home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#news">News</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
<li style="float:right"><a class="active" href="#about">About</a></li>
</ul>

Border Dividers

Add the border-right property to <li> to create link dividers:

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Example

/* Add a gray right border to all list items, except the last item (last-child) */
li {
border-right: 1px solid #bbb;
}

li:last-child {
border-right: none;
}

Fixed Navigation Bar

Make the navigation bar stay at the top or the bottom of the page, even when the user scrolls the page:

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Fixed Top Navigation Bar

Scroll this page to see the effect

The navigation bar will stay at the top of the page while scrolling

Some text some text some text some text..

Fixed Top

ul {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100%;
}

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Fixed Bottom Navigation Bar

Scroll this page to see the effect

The navigation bar will stay at the bottom of the page while scrolling

Some text some text some text some text..

Fixed Bottom

ul {
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
width: 100%;
}

Note: Fixed position might not work properly on mobile devices.

Gray Horizontal Navbar

An example of a gray horizontal navigation bar with a thin gray border:

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Example

ul {
border: 1px solid #e7e7e7;
background-color: #f3f3f3;
}

li a {
color: #666;
}

Full Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
overflow: hidden;
border: 1px solid #e7e7e7;
background-color: #f3f3f3;
}

li {
float: left;
}

li a {
display: block;
color: #666;
text-align: center;
padding: 14px 16px;
text-decoration: none;
}

li a:hover:not(.active) {
background-color: #ddd;
}

li a.active {
color: white;
background-color: #0054ff;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<ul>
<li><a class="active" href="#home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#news">News</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
<li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
</ul>

</body>
</html>

Sticky Navbar

Add position: sticky; to <ul> to create a sticky navbar.

A sticky element toggles between relative and fixed, depending on the scroll position. It is positioned relative until a given offset position is met in the viewport - then it "sticks" in place (like position:fixed).

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Sticky Navigation Bar Example

The navbar will stick to the top when you reach its scroll position.

Note: Internet Explorer do not support sticky positioning and Safari requires a -webkit- prefix.

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Example

ul {
position: -webkit-sticky; /* Safari */
position: sticky;
top: 0;
}

Note: Internet Explorer do not support sticky positioning. Safari requires a -webkit- prefix (see example above). You must also specify at least one of top, right, bottom or left for sticky positioning to work.

CSS Navigation Bar (Horizontal Menus)

Horizontal Navigation Bar

Inline List Items

Example

Floating List Items

Example

Example

Horizontal Navigation Bar Examples

Example

Active/Current Navigation Link

Example

Right-Align Links

Example

Border Dividers

Example

Fixed Navigation Bar

Fixed Top Navigation Bar

Scroll this page to see the effect

The navigation bar will stay at the top of the page while scrolling

Fixed Top

Fixed Bottom Navigation Bar

Scroll this page to see the effect

The navigation bar will stay at the bottom of the page while scrolling

Fixed Bottom

Gray Horizontal Navbar

Example

Full Code

Sticky Navbar

Scroll Down

Sticky Navigation Bar Example

Example

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