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CSS Dropdowns

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Create a hoverable dropdown with CSS.

Basic Dropdown #

Create a dropdown box that appears when the user moves the mouse over an element.

<style> .dropdown { position: relative; display: inline-block; } .dropdown-content { display: none; position: absolute; background-color: #f9f9f9; min-width: 160px; box-shadow: 0px 8px 16px 0px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); padding: 12px 16px; z-index: 1; } .dropdown:hover .dropdown-content { display: block; } </style> <div class="dropdown"> <span>Mouse over me</span> <div class="dropdown-content"> <p>Hello World!</p> </div> </div>

Example Explained #

HTML) Use any element to open the dropdown content, e.g. a <span>, or a <button> element.

Use a container element (like <div>) to create the dropdown content and add whatever you want inside of it.

Wrap a <div> element around the elements to position the dropdown content correctly with CSS.

CSS) The .dropdown class uses position:relative, which is needed when we want the dropdown content to be placed right below the dropdown button (using position:absolute).

The .dropdown-content class holds the actual dropdown content. 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. Tip: If you want the width of the dropdown content to be as wide as the dropdown button, set the width to 100% (and overflow:auto to enable scroll on small screens).

Instead of using a border, we have used the CSS box-shadow property to make the dropdown menu look like a “card”.

The :hover selector is used to show the dropdown menu when the user moves the mouse over the dropdown button.

Dropdown Menu #

Create a dropdown menu that allows the user to choose an option from a list:

Note: We use href="#" for test links. In a real web site this would be URLs.

<style> /* Style The Dropdown Button */ .dropbtn { background-color: #4CAF50; color: white; padding: 16px; font-size: 16px; border: none; cursor: pointer; } /* The container <div> - needed to position the dropdown content */ .dropdown { position: relative; display: inline-block; } /* 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 { color: black; padding: 12px 16px; text-decoration: none; display: block; } /* Change color of dropdown links on hover */ .dropdown-content a:hover {background-color: #f1f1f1} /* Show the dropdown menu on hover */ .dropdown:hover .dropdown-content { display: block; } /* Change the background color of the dropdown button when the dropdown content is shown */ .dropdown:hover .dropbtn { background-color: #3e8e41; } </style> <div class="dropdown"> <button class="dropbtn">Dropdown</button> <div class="dropdown-content"> <a href="#">Link 1</a> <a href="#">Link 2</a> <a href="#">Link 3</a> </div> </div>

Right-aligned Dropdown Content #

.dropdown-content { right: 0; }

Dropdown Image #

How to add an image and other content inside the dropdown box.

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