CSS Horizontal Menu modified with help notes

[casidougal]

The CSS menus with CMS MS are awesome tools but they can be a bear to modify for those of us who are not CSS gurus. I've wasted a lot of time messing with modifying the default horizontal CSS menu...I finally sat down and made a modified version with notes. It was difficult for me to get the hover highlight to work in IE 6 and FF 2 but I believe the version below accomplishes this.

The main application I use this for is to create a first menu level with a transparent background so I can style the nav bar area with a gradient background in the main page template.

I've tested this in IE 6 & 7, Opera 9 and FF 2...any comments, corrections or suggestions are welcomed.

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/* Horizontal menu for the CMS CSS Menu Module */
/* by Alexander Endresen

Modified by Doug Case http://risingline.com to accomodate a transparent background on primary menu level
EDIT HERE comments added in comments above each element that would be typically edited

Sample coding for using this menu in a CMSMS template:


{menu template='cssmenu.tpl'}

Gotchas:
>Make sure you've got the JavaScript helper loaded or this menu won't work in IE 6
>Apply the Accessibility CSS menu to your templates with this menu or you'll get hierarchical numbers with each menu item

Please contact me with comments, suggestions or corrections at http://risingline.com/contact_general_information.htm

*/


#menu_vert {
  margin-left: 1px;
  margin-right: 1px;
}

/* The wrapper clears the floating elements of the menu */

/* Fix for Opera 8 */
.clearb { clear: both; }

/* EDIT HERE 1 - FROM DOUG - Below styles the dynamically created div id="menuwrapper"
Change settings here to:
>width of nav bar - common widths are 760px, 955px, or 100%
>alignment of all all levels of menu items */
#menuwrapper {
/*  overflow: hidden;  */
background-color: transparent;
width: 760px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
z-index: 500;
text-align: left;
}

/* EDIT HERE 2 - Set the width of the menu elements at second level. Leaving first level flexible. */
#primary-nav li li {
  width: 200px;
}

/* Unless you know what you do, do not touch these positioning elements */
#primary-nav, #primary-nav ul {
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0px;
  padding: 0px;
}
#primary-nav ul {
  position: absolute;
  top: auto;
  display: none;
}
#primary-nav ul ul {
  margin-top: 1px;
  margin-left: -1px;
  left: 100%;
  top: 0px;
}
#primary-nav li {
  margin-left: -1px;
  float: left;
}
#primary-nav li li {
  margin-left: 0px;
  margin-top: -1px;
  float: none;
  position: relative;
}
/* End of positioning elements */

/* Styling the basic apperance of the menu elements
EDIT HERE 3- You can change the text color for all levels of the menu here. To change the sublevel text to a different
color see EDIT 6 */
#primary-nav a {
display: block;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px 10px;
text-decoration: none;
color: White;
}
/* EDIT HERE 4 - You can edit or remove side bordres on the main nav bar. Font attributes set here affect all levels */
#primary-nav li a {
border-right: 1px solid #C0C0C0;
border-left: 1px solid #C0C0C0;
}
/* EDIT HERE 5 - Edit or remove bordres of the 2nd and 3rd level menu items
If you would like a different font color for submenu text change it here
*/
#primary-nav li li a {
  border: 1px solid #C0C0C0;
}
/* EDIT HERE 6 - I set the background of the main nav bar to transparent so I can
add gradient background pictures in the html.
Obviously, you can also change main nav bar to a different color.
Note: Just changing this background color in the default CSS menu template will also affect
all lower levels of the menu, you must also add the edits in 7 and 8 at the bottom of this sheet. */
#primary-nav li, #primary-nav li.menuparent {
background-color: transparent;
}

/* Styling the basic apperance of the active page elements (shows what page in the menu is being displayed) */

#primary-nav li.menuactive {
  background-color: #C7C7C7;
}

/* Styling the basic apperance of the menuparents - here styled the same on hover (fixes IE bug) */
/* NOTE FROM DOUG - I changed the positioning so it's easier to use other arrow graphics. */
#primary-nav ul li.menuparent,
#primary-nav ul li.menuparent:hover,
#primary-nav ul li.menuparenth {
/* arrow for menuparents */
background-image: url(../ma10.gif);
background-position: 180px center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

/* Styling the apperance of menu items on hover
NOTE from Doug-added "#primary-nav ul li.menuparent:hover," to this section so it works in FF and IE6*/
#primary-nav li:hover,
#primary-nav li.menuh,
#primary-nav li.menuparenth,
#primary-nav ul li.menuparent:hover,
#primary-nav li.menuactiveh {
background-color: #DFBC84;
}

/* The magic - set to work for up to a 3 level menu, but can be increased unlimited */

/*
just add
#primary-nav li:hover ul ul,
#primary-nav li.menuparenth ul ul ul,
for fourth level
*/
#primary-nav ul,
#primary-nav li:hover ul,
#primary-nav li:hover ul ul,
#primary-nav li.menuparenth ul,
#primary-nav li.menuparenth ul ul {
  display: none;
}

/* add
#primary-nav ul ul ul li:hover ul,
#primary-nav ul ul ul li.menuparenth ul,
for fourth level
*/
#primary-nav li:hover ul,
#primary-nav ul li:hover ul,
#primary-nav ul ul li:hover ul,
#primary-nav li.menuparenth ul,
#primary-nav ul li.menuparenth ul,
#primary-nav ul ul li.menuparenth ul {
  display: block;
}

/* IE Hacks */
/* EDIT HERE 7 - You can change the background color of submenu items that ARE NOT parents match with color in edit 8 */
#primary-nav li li {
float: left;
clear: both;
background-color: #5B8AB9;
}
/* Don't change */
#primary-nav li li a {
  height: 1%;
}
/* EDIT HERE 8 - You can change the background color of submenu items that ARE parents (match with color in edit 7) */
#primary-nav ul li.menuparent {
background-color: #5B8AB9;
}