Question

I am using a timeline plugin from here

This is my current code:

<ul id="dates">
<li><a href="#1940s">1940s</a></li>
<li><a href="#1950s" class="selected">1950s</a></li>
<li><a href="#1960s">1960s</a></li>
<li><a href="#1970s">1970s</a></li>
<li><a href="#1980s">1980s</a></li>
<li><a href="#1990s">1990s</a></li>
<li><a href="#2000s">2000s</a></li>
</ul>
<ul id="issues">
<li id="1940s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1950.jpg" />
<h1>1940's</h1>
<p>Ronald.</p>
</li>
<li id="1950s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1960.jpg" />
<h1>1950's</h1>
<p>Eddy.</p>
</li>
<li id="1960s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1970.jpg" />
<h1>1960's</h1>
<p>1960s</p>
</li>
<li id="1970s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1980.jpg" />
<h1>1970's</h1>
<p>1970s</p>
</li>
<li id="1980s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1990.jpg" />
<h1>1980's</h1>
<p>1980s</p>
</li>
<li id="1990s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/1990.jpg" />
<h1>1990's</h1>
<p>1990s</p>
</li>
<li id="2000s"><img src="/gfx/timeline/2000.jpg" />
<h1>2000s</h1>
<p>2000s</p>
</li>
</ul>

But I don’t understand how I can make it look like this…

Any assistance?thanks

Current CSS:

#timeline {
    width: 660px;
    height: 350px;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 100px auto;
    position: relative;
    background: url('Img/vline.png') left 65px repeat-x;
}
#dates {
    width: 660px;
    height: 60px;
    overflow: hidden;
}
#dates li {
    list-style: none;
    float: left;
    width: 100px;
    height: 50px;
    font-size: 24px;
    text-align: center;
    background: url('Img/hline.png') center bottom no-repeat;
}
#dates a {
    line-height: 38px;
    text-decoration:none;
    color:#999;
    font-size:15px;
    font-weight:bold;
}
#dates .selected {
    font-size: 38px;
    color:#000;
}

#issues {
    width: 660px;
    height: 350px;
    overflow: hidden;
}   
#issues li {
    width: 660px;
    height: 350px;
    list-style: none;
    float: left;
}
#issues li img {
    float: right;
    margin: 100px 30px 10px 50px;
}
#issues li h1 {
    color: #999;
    font-size: 20px;
    margin: 20px 0;
}
#issues li p {
    font-size: 14px;
    margin-right: 70px;
    font-weight: normal;
    line-height: 22px;
}

Answer 1

Working example: http://jsfiddle.net/JJrfN/

You could use the ::before and ::after pseudo-elements to add the lines. This will not be friendly with older broswers (IE7 does not support these pseudo-elements and IE8 is sketchy at best). You will also have to add position: relative to the #dates li element.

So, for example, you could add the following CSS to your example:

#dates li a::before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    width: 1px;
    height:50px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 50%;
    bottom: -50px;    
}

#dates li a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 0;
    right: -20px;
    bottom: -50px;    
}

You will also find that you have to style the first and last li elements slightly differently as they are missing either a preceding / proceding li element. So these must targeted and styled seperately:

#dates li:first-child a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 50px;
    right: -20px;
    bottom: -50px;    
}

#dates li:last-child a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 0;
    width: 50px;
    bottom: -50px;    
}

To move the .selected li element above the others then you can give it a negative top value as we have positioned it relatively. To add the circular border you could use border-radius: 10px. This only works in modern broswers, however some older broswers include their own selectors such as -webkit-border-radius:3px; for Chrome and -moz-border-radius:3px; for Firefox. Unfortunately, this is not supported in IE8 and below.

#dates li.selected {
    font-size: 38px;
    top: -30px;
    border: 1px solid grey;
    -webkit-border-radius:10px;
    -moz-border-radius:10px;
    border-radius: 10px;
}

Again you will find that you have to change the ::before and ::after pseudo-element stylings to the .selected elements as we have changed the top position , so these will have to be targeted and changed appropriately:

#dates li.selected a::before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    width: 1px;
    height:88px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 50%;
    bottom: -88px;
}

#dates li.selected a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 0;
    right: -20px;
    bottom: -88px;
}

And, again, the style for when the first or last li elements have been selected:

#dates li:first-child.selected a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 50px;
    right: -20px;
    bottom: -88px;
}

#dates li:last-child.selected a::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    height:1px;
    background-color: grey;
    left: 0;
    right: -20px;
    bottom: -88px;
}

Although this is quite a long winded way of doing it, this could be cleaned up with a bit of time and understanding (which is why I have added a lot of information to this answer).

I hope it gives you some idea towards how you could achieve your desired design.

Working example: http://jsfiddle.net/JJrfN/