Is it possible to style DIVs so they look like follows:

with simple code
<div class='menubar'><div class='menu'>item1<br/>item2</div>...</div>
This is for menu. I wish just to resize selected DIV.
The features should be follows:
1) DIVs are placed from left to right without specifying absolute positions.
2) DIVs are taller than container DIV but don’t stretch it
UPDATE
Please explain with DIVs or SPANs, I failed to use LEFT with them. I need to learn, not get ready solution.
This is pretty basic stuff.
1) don’t use divs, use a list
2) float the child element
and the according css:
Here you go with a fancy demo.