In a horizontal navigation bar, the navigation links are stacked horizontally (next to each other), and is typically aligned on the top of a webpage.
The basics of a horizontal navigation bar is an unordered list (<ul>), with list items (<li>), each holding a link (<a>), as shown in the Navbar Intro page.
It is also common to add a <nav> element around the <ul> element, that will serve as a container for your navigation bar.
Horizontal Navbar Using Float
One way of creating a horizontal navigation bar is to add the float property to the <li> elements.
Here we 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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- About
Example
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #333333;
}
ul li {
float: left;
}
ul li a {
display: block;
color: white;
text-align: center;
padding: 14px 16px;
text-decoration: none;
}
ul li a:hover {
background-color: #111111;
}Live preview
Example explained
- overflow: hidden; - Prevents list items from going outside of the list
- background-color: #333333; - Adds a black background-color to the <ul> element
- float: left; - Makes <li> elements float next to each other
- display: block; - Allows us to specify padding, height, width, and margins to <a>
- padding: 14px 16px; - Add some padding between each <a> element
- text-decoration: none; - Removes underline from the links
Horizontal Navbar Using Flex
A more modern way of creating a horizontal navigation bar, is to use CSS flexbox .
The following example creates an equal-looking horizontal navbar as above, but with flexbox:
Example
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
background-color: #333333;
display: flex;
}
ul li a {
display: block;
color: white;
padding: 14px
16px;
text-decoration: none;
}
ul li a:hover {
background-color: #111111;
}Live preview
The solution here are display: flex; . This creates a flex context and by default the items are shown from left to right.
And just by adding one line to the ul block: justify-content: center; , you will have a horizontally centered navbar:
Example
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
background-color: #333333;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}Live preview
Active State
Here, we add an "active" class to highlight the link corresponding to the current page to let the user know which page/section he/she is on:
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Example
ul li a.active {
background-color: #04AA6D;
}Live preview
Gray Horizontal Navbar
Here is an example of a gray horizontal navigation bar with a thin, gray border:
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Example
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: flex;
border: 1px solid #e7e7e7;
background-color: #f3f3f3;
}Live preview
Right-align Last Link
You can right-align one or more links by floating the list items to the right ( float: right; ):
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<ul> <li><a href="#home" class="active">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#news">News</a></li> <li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
<li style="float:right"><a href="#about">About</a></li> </ul>Border Dividers
Add the border-right property to <li> elements (to all <li>s, except the last), to create link dividers:
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Example
/* Add a lightgray right border to all list items, except the last */
ul li {
float: left;
border-right: 1px solid #bbbbbb;
}
ul
li:last-child {
border-right: none;
}Live preview
Fixed Navigation Bar
You can make the navigation bar to stay fixed at the top or at the bottom of a page, by using the position property along with top or bottom :
Fixed Top
ul {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100%;
}Live preview
Fixed Bottom
ul {
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
width: 100%;
}Live preview
Note
Fixed position might not work properly on mobile devices.
Sticky Navigation Bar
Add position: sticky; to <ul> to create a sticky navbar.
An element with position: sticky; toggles between a relative and fixed position, depending on the scroll position.
A sticky element is positioned relative until a certain scroll position is reached - then it "sticks" in that place (like position: fixed).
Example
ul {
position: sticky;
top: 0;
}Live preview
Note
You must specify at least one of the top , right , bottom or left properties, for sticky positioning to work.
Dropdown Menu in Navigation Bar
Here we create a dropdown menu for one of the menu links:
Responsive Navbar
Example
How to use CSS media queries to create responsive top navigation:
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