Add a drop down menu that can be styled with template designer on Blogger

Todays tutorial is a simple CSS styled drop-down menu for Blogger. I have a previous tutorial here for the exact dropdown menu used on misseblog (demo).

The problem is, because I styled it to look like the menu on misseblog as requested, some people found it difficult to customise further so I decided to create this simpliar tutorial on how to create a dropdown menu which can be styled using the Template Designer (Template > Customise > Tabs Background & Tabs Text) to make it easier to fit your design.

Add the menu

If you used the previous tutorial for a drop down menu, you should really remove that code in order to properly replace it with this one. Otherwise, you may have a couple of small errors – these can be easily fixed when you know what you look for but it’s just as easy to remove the previous code.

Then go to Layout > Add a new HTML/Javascript Gadget and add the following code to it.

<!-- START NAVIGATION BY XOMISSE -->
<div id="navigationbar">
<ul id='cssnav'>
<li class="active"><a href='LINK'>Home</a></li>
<li class="sub"><a href='LINK'>CATEGORY 1</a>
<ul>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 1A</a></li>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 1B</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="sub"><a href='LINK'>CATEGORY 2</a>
<ul>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 2A</a></li>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 2B</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- ADD MORE CATEGORIES OR LINKS HERE -->
<li class="last"><a href='LINK'>Contact</a></li>
</ul>
</div>  
<!-- END NAVIGATION BY XOMISSE  -->

Add another dropdown category

<li class="sub"><a href='LINK'>CATEGORY 3</a>
<ul>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 3A</a></li>
<li><a href='URL LINK TO LABEL/WEBSITE/PAGE'>SUB-CATEGORY 3B</a></li>
</ul>
</li>

Add another link

<li><a href='LINK'>LINK-NAME</a></li>

Add the CSS

Add the following code to Template > Customise > Advanced > Add CSS. This will place the code above ]]></b:skin> in Template > Edit HTML. To change values via the Template Designer, go to Template > Customise > Advanced > Tabs Text and Tabs Background. I’ve added notes ( /* like this */) to help you customise the styling.

/* ----- START DROPDOWN CSS BY XOMISSE ----- */
#cssnav { 
border: 0px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
width: auto;
font: $(tabs.font); /* Template Designer - Change Font Type, Size, Etc */
color: $(tabs.text.color); /* Template Designer - Change Text Colour */
}

#cssnav ul {
background: $(tabs.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Menu Background */
height: 40px; /* Change Height of Menu */
list-style: none;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
}

#cssnav li {
float: none;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0px;
}

#cssnav li a {
background: $(tabs.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Menu Background */
display: block;
margin: 0px;
text-align: center;
font: $(tabs.font); /* Template Designer - Change Font Type, Size, Etc */
text-decoration: none;
}

#cssnav > ul > li > a {
color: $(tabs.text.color); /* Template Designer - Change Text Color */
}

#cssnav ul ul a { 
color: $(tabs.text.color); /* Template Designer - Change Text Color */
}

#cssnav li > a:hover, #cssnav ul li:hover {
color: $(tabs.selected.text.color); /* Template Designer - Change Text Color on Hover */
background-color: $(tabs.selected.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Font Background on Hover */
text-decoration: none;
}

#cssnav li ul {
background: $(tabs.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Menu Background */
display: none;
height: auto;
padding: 0px;
margin: 0px;
border: 0px;
position: absolute;
width: 200px; /* Change Width Of DropDown Menu */
z-index:9999;
}

#cssnav li:hover ul {
display: block;
}

#cssnav li li {
background: $(tabs.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Background */
display: block;
float: none;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
width: 200px; /* Change Width Of DropDown Menu */
}

#cssnav li:hover li a {
background: #FFFFFF; /* Template Designer - Change Background of Link on Hover */
}

#cssnav li ul a {
display: block;
height: auto;
margin: 0px;
padding: 10px;
text-align: left;
}

#cssnav li ul a:hover, #cssnav li ul li:hover > a {
color: $(tabs.selected.text.color); /* Template Designer - Change Text Color on Hover */
background-color: $(tabs.selected.background.color); /* Template Designer - Change Background on Hover */
border: 0px;
text-decoration: none;
}
/* ----- END DROPDOWN CSS BY XOMISSE ----- */

Dropdown menu not visible?

If you’re dropdown menu isn’t appearing when you hover over it, there may be something blocking it. Go to template > Edit CSS and find </b:skin>, above it add the following

.tabs-outer, .tabs .widget ul {overflow: visible;}

Header not full width?

Blogger by default has paddings and margins set up around your content. If you’ve set you’re navigation above to be 100% and there’s still a small gap on either side then we can add code to overwrite that. Go to Template > Edit HTML and find </b:skin>. If you can’t find </b:skin> check out this post for help. Add the following code above </b:skin>

.tabs-inner { padding: 0px; } .section { margin: 0px; }

This will remove the Bloggers default space around tabs. If there’s still a gap that you don’t want add the following above </b:skin>

.content-inner { padding: 10px 0px; }

If you want your header, navigation and footer to be the full width of the screen while keeping your main content area (posts + sidebar) the same width then check out the full tutorial for that here.

Elements losing styling/CSS when moved above header

Occasionally, putting certain elements above the header will remove the CSS associated with it. Here’s a solution to that. In the layout tab drag your header, navigation and any other gadgets down a little. It will jump to the second level, this shouldn’t affect the look of your blog (as in it will still appear at the top) but it will keep the styling. This image will hopefully explain that better.