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Smashing Magazine we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.

CSS-Based Navigation Menus: Modern Solutions

March 14th, 2007 in CSS | 181 Comments

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Navigation menus have to be intuitive, precise and easy-to-use. One simple, basic principle, which is common for all kinds of nav bars you would ever want to use for your projects. In fact, navigation menu is probably the most important element in web design: after all, it is being used more often than any other element on a given page. Therefore it’s important to make sure that your visitors will find they way around the site structure - however complex the latter might be.

So how do designers cope with a challenging task to create an attractive and usable menu? Which results can be achieved? OK, that’s a tough one. Let’s take a look around.

Below you’ll find 53 beautiful and user-friendly Navigation Menus and solutions web-designers came up with using basic CSS styling.

PS: Over the last few months we’ve reviewed CSS-Based Techniques, CSS-Based Forms and CSS-Based Tables and CSS-Based Footers (yes, some of these techniques use not only CSS, but also JavaScript and PHP). You’ll find even more CSS-related articles in our CSS Section.

PSS: We have included some DHTML- and JavaScript-based navigation menus in this list by mistake. Sorry for inconvenience.

CSS-Based Navigation Menus

1. Change.org

Navigation Menus - Change.org

2. N.Design Studio | Design & Blog

Navigation Menus - N.Design Studio | Design & Blog

3. Good Creative - Web and Graphic Design

Navigation Menus - Good Creative - Web and Graphic Design

4. MacRabbit - Welcome

Navigation Menus - MacRabbit - Welcome

5. Joyent: Introducing Joyent

Navigation Menus - Joyent: Introducing Joyent

6. CSS Vault » The Web’s CSS Site

Navigation Menus - CSS Vault » The Web's CSS Site

7. notiam.com

Navigation Menus - notiam.com

8. Jamie Huskisson: Full time UK PHP freelance developer

Navigation Menus - Jamie Huskisson: Full time UK PHP freelance developer

9. Web design, development and consultancy from Ottawa, Canada - Snook.ca

Navigation Menus - Web design, development and consultancy from Ottawa, Canada - Snook.ca

10. BREAKER DESIGN

Navigation Menus - BREAKER DESIGN

11. Jen Gordon

Navigation Menus - Jen Gordon

12. Tulumarka

Navigation Menus - Tulumarka

13. Ars Technica

Navigation Menus - Ars Technica

14. CSS Beauty | CSS Design, News, Jobs, Community, Web Standards

Navigation Menus - CSS Beauty | CSS Design, News, Jobs, Community, Web Standards

15. Digg / Technology

Navigation Menus - Digg / Technology

16. Triple Crown Customer Service

Navigation Menus - Triple Crown Customer Service

17. microformats

Navigation Menus - microformats

18. Badboy.ro

Navigation Menus - Badboy.ro

19. GetMenus.ca

Navigation Menus - GetMenus.ca

20. Wedding Extravaganza 2007 - A Perfect Marriage

Navigation Menus - Wedding Extravaganza 2007 - A Perfect Marriage

21. Job Pile - Aggregating the Best Job Boards on the Web - Artypapers

Navigation Menus - Job Pile - Aggregating the Best Job Boards on the Web - Artypapers

22. Norman Morrow & Co - Estate Agents In Crumlin, Northern Ireland

Navigation Menus - Norman Morrow & Co - Estate Agents In Crumlin, Northern Ireland

23. Listal - List the stuff you love! Movies, TV, music, games and books

Navigation Menus - Listal - List the stuff you love! Movies, TV, music, games and books

24. folietto

Navigation Menus - folietto

25. Tony Yoo - Online Showcase (version2)

Navigation Menus - Tony Yoo - Online Showcase (version2)

26. Digital Web Magazine

Navigation Menus - Digital Web Magazine

27. Denbighshire Supporting Business

Navigation Menus - Denbighshire Supporting Business | Denbighshire, Supporting, Business

28. Pulmad, peod, lillesalong… - Annilill Peoteenindus

Navigation Menus - Pulmad, peod, lillesalong... - Annilill Peoteenindus

29. ExpressionEngine - Publish Your Universe!

Navigation Menus - ExpressionEngine - Publish Your Universe!

30. coda.coza

Navigation Menus - coda.coza

31. purevolume™ | We’re Listening To You

Navigation Menus - purevolume™ | We're Listening To You

32. EGOLOUNGE *Büro für digitales Design

Navigation Menus - EGOLOUNGE *Büro für digitales Design

33. Merix - Internet Technologies

Navigation Menus - Merix - Internet Technologies

34. Bartelme Design | Showroom

Navigation Menus - Bartelme Design | Showroom

35. Luis Alarcón, Blog

Navigation Menus - Luis Alarcón, Blog

36. CSS3 . info - Everything you need to know about CSS3

Navigation Menus - CSS3 . info - Everything you need to know about CSS3

37. nclud™ a creative web design agency

Navigation Menus - nclud™ a creative web design agency

38. Convan Design - Howdy

Navigation Menus - Convan Design - Howdy

39. ExpressionEngine - Publish Your Universe!

Navigation Menus - ExpressionEngine - Publish Your Universe!

40. Silverpoint: Web Solutions for Schools

Navigation Menus - Silverpoint: Web Solutions for Schools

41. Jambor-ee - Celebrating ExpressionEngine

Navigation Menus - Jambor-ee - Celebrating ExpressionEngine

42. far from fearless

Navigation Menus - far from fearless

43. Scribd - Home

Navigation Menus - Scribd - Home

44. Erika Greco - Blog

Navigation Menus - Erika Greco - Blog

45. Photoshop Tutorials and Articles - Tutorial Blog

Navigation Menus - Photoshop Tutorials and Articles - Tutorial Blog

46. Welcome to Buzz — Buzz Recruitment

Navigation Menus - Welcome to Buzz — Buzz Recruitment

47. Michal Zapoměl - český vlasový design | czech hair design

Navigation Menus - Michal Zapoměl - český vlasový design | czech hair design - Úvodní stránka

48. Onlinecenter Upload

Navigation Menus - Onlinecenter Upload

49. M122Arts Mixed Media and Technology // oo*o

Navigation Menus - M122Arts Mixed Media and Technology // oo*o

50. KazanShops.Ru

Navigation Menus - Магазины Казани - казанский сайт для тех, кто покупает - www.KazanShops.Ru

51. Stone inc. - Aménagements Paysager, Pavés.

Navigation Menus - Stone inc. - Aménagements Paysager, Pavés, Murets, Tourbe et plus!

52. Pixellogo

Navigation Menus - Pixellogo

53. AUSMAG - das Australien Work & Travel Portal

Navigation Menus - AUSMAG - das Australien Work & Travel Portal - Arbeiten und Reisen in Australien

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  1. 1.

    Roy Tomeij (March 14th, 2007, 9:53 pm)

    Modern solutions? Excuse me, but some of the above sites use image roll overs. Besides that you need to have javascript enabled to see these, they are plain inaccessible to other user agents than the standard browsers. So much for ‘usability’ and ‘using basic CSS styling’.

  2. 2.

    Chaaban (March 14th, 2007, 9:56 pm)

    You guys never stop amazing me :)

    Smashing is a name that fit you .

    where is the digg button , need to digg this .

  3. 3.

    Chaaban (March 14th, 2007, 10:02 pm)

    Great work .

    Keep it up !

    it would be nice if we also had access to the source of those designs .

  4. 4.

    Peter (March 14th, 2007, 10:44 pm)

    It strikes me as mostly design variations on the same theme.

    For true originality you could have restricted this post to just one link :

    Link [www.cssplay.co.uk]

  5. 5.

    Gizmi (March 14th, 2007, 11:06 pm)

    Chaaban, they got banned from Digg. Read their “8 Things You Should Know About Smashing Magazine” post.

  6. 6.

    Greg (March 14th, 2007, 11:20 pm)

    is it my browser/computer or is the N.Design nav bar very laggy?

  7. 7.

    Laurens (March 15th, 2007, 12:37 am)

    Very nice to see these great solutions.. but was there are reason for not putting in any vertikal CSS menu’s?

  8. 8.

    Скакунов Александр (March 15th, 2007, 1:22 am)

    I don’t see anything attractive, but thanks for the set.

  9. 9.

    Digg Link (March 15th, 2007, 2:55 am)

    Link [www.digg.com]

  10. 10.

    TimLetscher (March 15th, 2007, 3:03 am)

    I’m in no way bashing these examples or any of the other fine fine sets assembled here, but does anyone else find it odd that the majority of all these examples are design shops or personal portfolios?

    Can we not sell these ideas to our clients?

    Great work though!

    Cheers,Tim

  11. 11.

    wn (March 15th, 2007, 3:37 am)

    To get the .css code…

    1) View source code of the page
    2) Grab the path to the .css inside the HEAD tags at the top of the page.
    3) Place the path of the .css at the end of the URL in the browser
    4) You’ll see the .css file.

  12. 12.

    Forgiste (March 15th, 2007, 3:52 am)

    @ Roy

    There is such a thing as a css image rollover, I use one on my as yet unfinished site redesign.

  13. 13.

    Jen Simmons (March 15th, 2007, 4:00 am)

    Check out Link [eileentognini.com] It’s different than the two dozen tabbed horizontal bars.

  14. 14.

    Joost Money (March 15th, 2007, 4:05 am)

    the point of these is to show examples, not to steal the examples. Those sites are not affiliated with smashing magazine, this article is not (IMO) meant for you to rip their css.

  15. 15.

    Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (March 15th, 2007, 4:11 am)

    Jen Simmons, thanks for the reference. Interesting solution, indeed.

  16. 16.

    wn (March 15th, 2007, 4:23 am)

    Joost Money…

    Not everyone who views source code steals it…

    Some of us use it to learn from…

  17. 17.

    kurt (March 15th, 2007, 4:29 am)

    These are all great samples of well designed navigation. However many of them suffer from the “flicker” effect that is associated with a pure css navigation. Although it is mainly only in IE its still a problem… Anyone know how to solve this?

  18. 18.

    Luc (March 15th, 2007, 4:38 am)

    Maybe this site gives you some inspiriation too.

    Nice Navigation: Link [www.favouritz.com]

  19. 19.

    troels (March 15th, 2007, 5:10 am)

    Hey. You forgot to mention ‘ExpressionEngine - Publish Your Universe!’

  20. 20.

    RonnieSan (March 15th, 2007, 5:38 am)

    Designers/Coders should learn not to make their hover the same as their “You are here” style. It’s unusable. When designing a navigation, you should have at least three distinct states: off, hover, active.

  21. 21.

    Roy Tomeij (March 15th, 2007, 5:42 am)

    @ Forgiste: using CSS you usually have the roll over on the link (which is the way you should use it). I was referring to the javascript methods.

  22. 22.

    bogy (March 15th, 2007, 5:43 am)

    Come on, anyone interesting about web developing and design already know these an a whole lot more. What the point of making list of them. “Come on people digg us and click the links so we make some money”, that’s the point, isn’t it?

  23. 23.

    Seyora (March 15th, 2007, 6:23 am)

    @ Jen Simmons: That’s just mystery-meat navigation. Doesn’t score too well in terms of accessibility.

  24. 24.

    sky (March 15th, 2007, 6:54 am)

    you can get all of these sites css files..
    But you manually you have to clear your temp directory, then go to that page and then refresh the temp directory the css will be there..with the whole page layout..:0 have fun.. and we didnt tell ya how to do this,,lol

  25. 25.

    Sam (March 15th, 2007, 6:56 am)

    I dunno whats with all the unappreciative haters. I personally love going through your lists, I get massive amounts of design ideas and see new techniques and styles. I don’t really give a **** if its badly coded. Theres still alot to gain, and the list would have taken a fair amount of effort to compile. So what if they are making money from all the traffic, good on them.

    Anyways keep up the good work and don’t let the haters get you down.

  26. 26.

    fijis (March 15th, 2007, 7:14 am)

    The tabs are an obvious trend but I also noticed a bunch of carrots/pointers/wedges. I’ll have to keep an eye open and see if this is a general web trend.

  27. 27.

    criticalerror (March 15th, 2007, 7:24 am)

    great work…!!!

  28. 28.

    Myra (March 15th, 2007, 8:04 am)

    YOU SURE ARE A SMART GUY bogy!!!

    There. That was the subtext of your post and you got what you wanted. Happy?

    Now spare us the superior attitude and disdain. It’s tiresome.

  29. 29.

    Jamie Huskisson (March 15th, 2007, 8:06 am)

    Thanks for the feature guys. I only launched the new layout with that menu last night around 11pm.. so to find out by 4-5pm that it had been posted up here was amusing :)

  30. 30.

    Jon (March 15th, 2007, 11:34 am)

    I took a look at the first few, saw that they were either image-based and thus completely unscalable or had text in them that refused to scale with the browser text height. Meh. Any fool can create a pretty-looking menu if you’re fixing your size. Show me pretty menus that scale up and down gracefully and then I’m impressed.

  31. 31.

    leonurus (March 15th, 2007, 1:09 pm)

    is it my browser/computer or is the N.Design nav bar very laggy?

  32. 32.

    Paul Stamatiou (March 15th, 2007, 2:52 pm)

    Now, which of these menu styles can be done using no images at all. I try to keep loading time on my site top-notch and can’t justify extra images for anything.

  33. 33.

    loops (March 15th, 2007, 7:38 pm)

    There have been quite a few css navigation menu round-ups lately but you’ve again managed to list some of the best. Thanks!

  34. 34.

    Mindloop (March 15th, 2007, 7:55 pm)

    Found this list a bit uninspiring, just a whole lot variations on tabs.

    Some of theme even have problems like a flicker between the normal and :hover state or worse javascript for a rollover that could easily be done with css.

  35. 35.

    metv (March 15th, 2007, 9:49 pm)

    “PSS”? I think you mean PPS.

  36. 36.

    Kevin (March 15th, 2007, 11:48 pm)

    why is this on digg.com? this sucks. where is the code?

    who gives a crap about a bunch of screens and links to sites?

  37. 37.

    greg (March 16th, 2007, 5:51 am)

    check out these menus too: Link [www.13styles.com]

  38. 38.

    Greg (March 16th, 2007, 10:03 am)

    Another tabbed one I stumbed across: Link [www.brusheezy.com]

  39. 39.

    365hope.com (March 16th, 2007, 11:40 am)

    这些都是导航之精品!

  40. 40.

    Jeff (March 16th, 2007, 5:23 pm)

    not to be rude, but it should be PPS instead of PSS. PS stands for postscript so you want to say post-postscript, not postscript-script.

    Excellent set of examples. I think I’ll be adding this site to my regular routine

  41. 41.

    imaginepaolo (March 16th, 2007, 8:20 pm)

    […] smashingmagazine best user friendly navigation and solutions […]

  42. 42.

    Jeff Hill (March 16th, 2007, 9:15 pm)

    “Silverpoint: Web Solutions for Schools” could be called a solution if the goal is to confuse the user equally as much as look pretty. It’s almost like a drug. I’ll coin the term “crackNav”.

  43. 43.

    redhathacker (March 17th, 2007, 3:29 am)

    what about this menu: Link [www.bnet.com] Is it nice, isn’t it?

  44. 44.

    Raphael (March 18th, 2007, 3:01 am)

    Nice to see but isn’t most of it the same?

  45. 45.

    Dreyer Media (March 18th, 2007, 7:02 am)

    I must say, this is a great list!

  46. 46.

    e_anka (March 19th, 2007, 2:21 am)

    A nice set of examples, but not all of them are user-friendly: I call a menu user-friendly if it highlights the current page (but doesn’t link to it) and hovers over other links - to show you where you can go from here. I think it’s the minimum we can do to make the web more friendly place.

  47. 47.

    Agust Gudbjornsson (March 25th, 2007, 10:19 pm)

    Brilliant blog, nice to see small round-up on the menus. I think though the web 2.0 layout structures (and menu´s) are getting bit boring for the normal user, with that said look at Link [www.nebonmedia.com]

  48. 48.

    redwall_hp (March 26th, 2007, 12:53 pm)

    Uh, ExpressionEngine is in there twice…

  49. 49.

    Henawi (May 5th, 2007, 8:45 am)

    The best collection I’ve ever see, thank you.

  50. 50.

    Gold Coast Web Designer (May 22nd, 2007, 12:34 pm)

    great list - very useful - I’m sure I’ll be referring to this list many times!

  51. 51.

    webguy (May 22nd, 2007, 2:30 pm)

    yo guys i now how to get the CSS source code for the different sites, but how to i get to see the images to use for the diferent designe, is there a way to get to the images to be downloaded? please let me know, it will be so helpful..

  52. 52.

    Lisa (May 25th, 2007, 4:03 pm)

    I don’t know why people keep moaning about some posts on this site. If you don’t like the articles don’t read them. Its as simple as that.

  53. 53.

    Sahibinden (June 8th, 2007, 9:57 pm)

    gerat menu works. i will select one of them and try as soon as possible.

  54. 54.

    iddaa (June 21st, 2007, 11:22 pm)

    Realy great work…!!!
    Thank you very much.

  55. 55.

    Flux (July 22nd, 2007, 5:14 pm)

    It’s cool! How i can use menu like Triple Crown Customer Service in my Link [www.blogflux.net]?. Help me please.

  56. 56.

    abdul basit (July 23rd, 2007, 3:40 pm)

    This is really really great.I would say, probably, that this is the thing i found over the net in last 5 years, the best one.Cool, great and truly amazing.A valueable resource for a developer.

  57. 57.

    Ryan (August 7th, 2007, 3:23 am)

    What is it about that list that is so innovative and modern? These are just a bunch of examples of tabbed navigations. Last time I checked, tabs have been used forever.

  58. 58.

    Dugu (August 9th, 2007, 12:28 am)

    Omg.
    This was what I was looking for.
    Really Great.

  59. 59.

    jez (August 10th, 2007, 5:37 am)

    I am interested in the topics discussed but have been feeling a little intimidated by the thought of the work.
    I knew there was a way to do this but I didn’t want to have to use a forum software for this functionality, because, the actual forum aspect would have been superfluous… don’t add more than you need seems to be a good policy

  60. 60.

    Syed Balkhi (August 20th, 2007, 2:19 pm)

    it would be even better if there are like tutorials below each post showing how to do each :)

    that would be some thing shakie smashing

  61. 61.

    Samuel Mobile Phone Deals (August 28th, 2007, 1:39 am)

    I was really looking for some small CSS menues for my site. I was really very interested in some of the above but there is not CSS code provided would have been great. Is there any chance that this code could be place on the site for others to test and try.

    Thanks

  62. 62.

    css xhtml develoepr (August 31st, 2007, 4:13 pm)

    Great design and menu solutions, though it is very simple to make css list menus which i guess these menus are….

    Link [www.xhtml.gr] is also a validated website where i share my experiences in Link [www.michaelpersson.com]

  63. 63.

    javier (September 12th, 2007, 7:15 am)

    My favorite… MacRabbit!

  64. 64.

    vreme (October 5th, 2007, 4:23 am)

    Thank you for this great list! My personal favorite from all above is Tony Yoo - others are mostly just too plain.

  65. 65.

    Kyle (November 2nd, 2007, 2:17 am)

    Excellent Article! Very helpfull and informative

  66. 66.

    saif (November 20th, 2007, 7:48 pm)

    Thank you for this great

  67. 67.

    Steve (November 29th, 2007, 1:59 am)

    Nice collection
    Thanks!

  68. 68.

    Digital Base (December 11th, 2007, 1:39 am)

    Very good collection, trying to understand the general idea & markup of the css files will allow you to make the most beautiful navigation menu’s yourself. I started with this collection, it learned me alot.

  69. 69.

    Marko (January 1st, 2008, 4:13 pm)

    I don’t see anything attractive for my site filipinafianceevisa.com but thanks for the set.

  70. 70.

    Roy (January 7th, 2008, 4:03 pm)

    The first thing you have to think about is, what sort of people is your website for. Who are you trying to connect/communicate with. A website is an communication device, so let it be that way. Make navigations simple, understandful en sometimes fun.

    Just as effective as above sets are, but this is more in style of the theme of the website. If people click on it, than it’s ok ;)

  71. 71.

    Josh (February 3rd, 2008, 12:19 pm)

    You can easily find, view, and copy the source of any website.
    In the Firefox menu bar, click ‘View’ and then ‘Page Source’ or just Ctrl +U.

    In IE and other browsers it’s technically the same process.

    Hope this helps.

    -Josh

  72. 72.

    Sunitha (February 5th, 2008, 5:30 pm)

    I have few queries can I know where can I post the question?

  73. 73.

    Belive Blog (February 26th, 2008, 2:02 am)

    Great resource for css menus.

    thanks

  74. 74.

    Dutch computer community (February 26th, 2008, 10:24 am)

    Nice list!

  75. 75.

    Michael Goldstein (March 4th, 2008, 12:49 am)

    smashing magazine! a really great resource :) // Michael

  76. 76.

    jeremy24 (March 5th, 2008, 10:40 pm)

    From a software engineering point of view, CSS is a huge ball of mess. It’s counterintuitive and illogical much of the time. As a software engineer it disgusts me how much time I need to spend on hacks and making things align properly. Even when things *should* work, they don’t. Much of this can be blamed on the inconsistencies around browsers. The use of CSS “Frameworks” seems like the best bet.

    I want to spend more time programming the back-end (the substance of the web application), and not messing around with hacks in a trial and error manner. CSS has commited so many software engineering sins that it’s not funny.

    But thank you so much Smashing Magazine for clearing up the illogicalities of CSS.

  77. 77.

    mehmet (March 7th, 2008, 1:33 am)

    Keep rocking the scene!

  78. 78.

    Jogos Grátis (March 12th, 2008, 8:45 pm)

    great list - very useful - I’m sure I’ll be referring to this list many times!

  79. 79.

    anjana (March 20th, 2008, 11:16 pm)

    ur collections are really good.
    but threr r no vertical menus???????///

  80. 80.

    Secret Owl (April 3rd, 2008, 6:20 pm)

    Another good list, but a lot of those are pretty bland. Still, y’know?

  81. 81.

    Patrick Freitag (April 15th, 2008, 11:47 pm)

    2 times Expression Engine. Seems you like it, hmm? ;)

  82. 82.

    Matt (April 18th, 2008, 10:05 am)

    check out the menu generator at Link [bellspace.net] it includes vertical/horizontal support and keyboard-based navigation

  83. 83.

    Samuel Mobile Phone Deals (April 30th, 2008, 1:27 pm)

    how are you finding the larger CSS menus affecting SEO ? I have found i really causes problems with rankings if you menu is to large.

    for example at my Link [www.thephonenetwork.co.uk] site i really had to cut it down

  84. 84.

    Kate (May 2nd, 2008, 6:35 am)

    Great source of links! Thanks! I’ve found another website that contains quite a few different website navigitaion css tutorials.
    Link [css.maxdesign.com.au]

  85. 85.

    Teksty (May 6th, 2008, 1:37 am)

    i will use one soon on my page tekstomania

  86. 86.

    康宏亮 (May 6th, 2008, 3:09 am)

    谁知道我这些样式,在那里能够下载到.给用用qq:409842590

  87. 87.

    Gift Bird (May 9th, 2008, 9:32 pm)

    Very nice list. These give me a few good ideas for my next design project. Too bad some of the links no longer provide working examples.

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