Question

I have an unordered inline horizontal list menu, when my mobile media query kicks in I want the css to change so that it has a parent item called ‘menu’ that when clicked displays the menu child links in a vertical list.

What is the best way to achieve this?

Should I create both types of menu and use css to switch their visibility or is there a way I can make the first menu become the new second menu?

Any help would be really appreciated. I am sure switching between hidden css property on each would work but I wasn’t sure how semantic friendly this would be etc?

Cheers

Answer 1

Righto, it took a bit of work but I’ve created a working example of what you’re after here

HTML

<a href="#" id="nav-status">Open / Close</a>
<ul id="navigation">
    <li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 2</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 3</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 4</a></li>
    <li>
        <a href="#">Item 5</a>
        <ul>
            <li><a href="#">Sub Item 1</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Sub Item 2</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Sub Item 3</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 6</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 7</a></li>
</ul>

​CSS

/* FOR ANYTHING GREATER THAN MOBILE RESOLUTION */
@media screen and (min-width: 480px) {
    #nav-status {
        display: none;    
    }

    ul {
        width: 100%;    
        min-height: 25px;
        color:#fff;
        background:#CCC;
        overflow: visible;
    }

    ul li {
        color:#000;
        border-right: 1px solid #333;
        width: 96px;
        height: 21px;
        padding:2px;
        display: block;
        float: left;
        position: relative;    
    }

    ul li:last-child {
        border-right: none;
    }

    ul li ul {
        display: none;
        width: 100px;
        color:#fff;
        background:#666;
        position: absolute; 
        top: 25px; 
        left: 0px;
        overflow: hidden;
    }

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

/* FOR MOBILE RESOLUTIONS */
@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
    #nav-status {
        display: block;
        width: 100%;
        height: 21px;
        padding: 2px;
        background: #000;
        color: #FFF;   
    }

    ul {
        display: none;
        width: 100%;       
        color:#fff;
        background:#CCC;
        overflow: visible;
    }

    ul li {
        color:#000;
        border-bottom: 1px solid #333;
        width: 100%;
        min-height: 21px;
        padding:2px;
        display: block;        
        position: relative;    
    }

    ul li:last-child {
        border-bottom: none;
    }

    ul li ul {
        display: block;
        width: 100%;
        color:#fff;
        background:#666;        
        overflow: hidden;
        position: relative;
    }        
}
​

JAVASCRIPT

$(function() {
    $('#nav-status').click(function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        $('#navigation').toggle();
    });​
});

In summary, any time the resolution drops under 480px wide, the mobile styling will kick in. This’ll basically stack the menu items vertically and allow you to collapse/expand the nav with the open/close link. Anything larger than 480px will use the default styling which will order the menu items horizontally.

Hopefully it all makes sense 🙂