How to create Drop Down menu with jQuery

Studies show that top navigations tend to get the most visual attention when a user first visits a site. Having organized and intuitive navigation is key — and while most drop down menus may look aesthetically pleasing, developing them to degrade gracefully is also essential. In this tutorial I would like to go over how to create a sexy drop down menu that can also degrade gracefully.

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View Demo of Sexy Drop Down Menu

Step1. HTML

First create an unordered list for your base top navigation. Then simply nest another unordered list for your sub navigation.
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1. <ul class="topnav"> 
2.     <li><a href="#">Home</a></li> 
3.     <li> 
4.         <a href="#">Tutorials</a> 
5.         <ul class="subnav"> 
6.             <li><a href="#">Sub Nav Link</a></li> 
7.             <li><a href="#">Sub Nav Link</a></li> 
8.         </ul> 
9.     </li> 
10.     <li> 
11.         <a href="#">Resources</a> 
12.         <ul class="subnav"> 
13.             <li><a href="#">Sub Nav Link</a></li> 
14.             <li><a href="#">Sub Nav Link</a></li> 
15.         </ul> 
16.     </li> 
17.     <li><a href="#">About Us</a></li> 
18.     <li><a href="#">Advertise</a></li> 
19.     <li><a href="#">Submit</a></li> 
20.     <li><a href="#">Contact Us</a></li> 
21. </ul> 

Step2. CSS

Next, it’s time to style the navigation wireframe with CSS.
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1. ul.topnav { 
2. list-style: none; 
3. padding: 0 20px; 
4. margin: 0; 
5. float: left; 
6. width: 920px; 
7. background: #222; 
8. font-size: 1.2em; 
9. background: url(topnav_bg.gif) repeat-x; 
10. } 
11. ul.topnav li { 
12. float: left; 
13. margin: 0; 
14. padding: 0 15px 0 0; 
15. position: relative; /*--Declare X and Y axis base for sub navigation--*/
16. } 
17. ul.topnav li a{ 
18. padding: 10px 5px; 
19. color: #fff; 
20. display: block; 
21. text-decoration: none; 
22. float: left; 
23. } 
24. ul.topnav li a:hover{ 
25. background: url(topnav_hover.gif) no-repeat center top; 
26. } 
27. ul.topnav li span { /*--Drop down trigger styles--*/
28. width: 17px; 
29. height: 35px; 
30. float: left; 
31. background: url(subnav_btn.gif) no-repeat center top; 
32. } 
33. ul.topnav li span.subhover {background-position: center bottombottom; cursor: pointer;} /*--Hover effect for trigger--*/
34. ul.topnav li ul.subnav { 
35. list-style: none; 
36. position: absolute; /*--Important - Keeps subnav from affecting main navigation flow--*/
37. left: 0; top: 35px; 
38. background: #333; 
39. margin: 0; padding: 0; 
40. display: none; 
41. float: left; 
42. width: 170px; 
43. border: 1px solid #111; 
44. } 
45. ul.topnav li ul.subnav li{ 
46. margin: 0; padding: 0; 
47. border-top: 1px solid #252525; /*--Create bevel effect--*/
48. border-bottom: 1px solid #444; /*--Create bevel effect--*/
49. clear: both; 
50. width: 170px; 
51. } 
52. html ul.topnav li ul.subnav li a { 
53. float: left; 
54. width: 145px; 
55. background: #333 url(dropdown_linkbg.gif) no-repeat 10px center; 
56. padding-left: 20px; 
57. } 
58. html ul.topnav li ul.subnav li a:hover { /*--Hover effect for subnav links--*/
59. background: #222 url(dropdown_linkbg.gif) no-repeat 10px center; 
60. } 

Step3. jQuery

For those who are new to jQuery, you can learn about it here.
The following script contains comments explaining which jQuery actions are being performed.
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1. $(document).ready(function(){ 
3.     $("ul.subnav").parent().append("<span></span>"); //Only shows drop down trigger when js is enabled (Adds empty span tag after ul.subnav*)
5.     $("ul.topnav li span").click(function() { //When trigger is clicked...
7. //Following events are applied to the subnav itself (moving subnav up and down)
8.         $(this).parent().find("ul.subnav").slideDown('fast').show(); //Drop down the subnav on click
10.         $(this).parent().hover(function() { 
11.         }, function(){ 
12.             $(this).parent().find("ul.subnav").slideUp('slow'); //When the mouse hovers out of the subnav, move it back up
13.         }); 
15. //Following events are applied to the trigger (Hover events for the trigger)
16.         }).hover(function() { 
17.             $(this).addClass("subhover"); //On hover over, add class "subhover"
18.         }, function(){  //On Hover Out
19.             $(this).removeClass("subhover"); //On hover out, remove class "subhover"
20.     }); 
22. }); 

*To degrade gracefully, we only show the drop down menu trigger to those who have javascript enabled.

This is what it looks like when javascript is disabled:

View Demo of Sexy Drop Down Menu

Conclusion

Note: I went ahead and added the rounded corners to the demo (CSS3 – Only supported in Firefox, Safar, & Chrome). If you would like to give it a try, check out this tutorial.
Experiment and customize this to fit your needs! If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or comments, please do not hesitate to let me know.