Drop-down menus are an excellent feature because they help clean up a busy layout. When structured correctly, drop-down menus can be a great navigation tool, while still being an attractive design feature.

Continuing from “DAY2: Fading Background Color With jQuery .animate()“, today we would like to take a look at another effect that we can create using the .animate() function.

In this tutorial we’re going to be using the jQuery & CSS to create an attractive and functional dropdown menu. We’ll have a multilevel <ul>, which has a series of <li> elements each containing different blocks of <ul>. We are going to use jQuery to display the submenu items in and out of view.

Let’s have a sneak peak about what we are going to create today.

Check out the demo of “Slick Drop down Menu with Easing Effect With jQuery & CSS”.

Creating a Slick Drop down Menu with Easing Effect

Step1. HTML

First create an unordered list for your main top navigation. Then simply nest another unordered list for your sub navigation.

<ul class="blockeasing">
     <li class="main"><a href="#">About Us</a>
         <ul class="subnav">
            <li><a href="#">Overview</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Products</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Services</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Why Us</a></li>
        </ul>
     </li>
     <li class="main"><a href="#">Products</a>
         <ul class="subnav">
            <li><a href="#">Main Product</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">DSL Lines</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">DialUps</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Main Stream</a></li>
        </ul>
     </li>
     <li class="main"><a href="#">Contact Us</a>
         <ul class="subnav">
            <li><a href="#">Twitter</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Email</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">LinkedIn</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Facebook</a></li>
        </ul>
     </li>
</ul>

Step2. CSS

Now that the menu structure is in place we’ll add some styles to hide the sub navigation. Display must be set to none to the <ul> that carries the sub navigation items. This will ensure that the submenu is kept hidden when the mouse is not hovered on the block carrying the submenu.

ul.blockeasing {
      color:#CCCCCC;
      float:left;
      font-size:11px;
      padding:0;
      width:560px;
}
ul.blockeasing li{
      background:none repeat scroll 0 0 #333333;
      border:2px solid #000000;
      display:block;
      float:left;
      height:15px;
      list-style:none outside none;
      margin:0 5px;
      padding:5px 0px;
      text-align:center;
      text-shadow:0 1px 1px #000000;
      text-transform:uppercase;
      width:130px;
      position:relative;
}
ul.blockeasing li a{
     color:#CCCCCC;
}
ul.blockeasing li ul{
     background:none repeat scroll 0 0 #333;
     border-bottom:3px solid #DE93C3;
     float:left;
     padding:20px 5px 0;
     display: none;
     position:absolute;
     left:-50%;
     width:250px;
     margin-top:15px
     }
ul.blockeasing li ul li{
    border:none;
    border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;
    padding:5px;
    float:left;
    width:100px;
    overflow:hidden
    }

Step3. jQuery

The following script contains comments explaining which jQuery actions are being performed.

 $(document).ready(function() { 
        $("ul.blockeasing li.main").mouseover(function(){ //When mouse over ...
        	   //Following event is applied to the subnav itself (making height of subnav 60px)
		      $(this).find('.subnav').stop().animate({height: '60px', opacity:'1'},{queue:false, duration:1500, easing: 'easeOutBounce'})
		});
	    $("ul.blockeasing li.main").mouseout(function(){ //When mouse out ...
	          //Following event is applied to the subnav itself (making height of subnav 0px)
		      $(this).find('.subnav').stop().animate({height:'0px', opacity:'0'},{queue:false, duration:1600, easing: 'easeOutBounce'})
		});      	
        //menu item background color animation			
		$("li").hover(function() {
              $(this).stop().animate({ backgroundColor: "#C13D93"}, 600);},
           function() {
              $(this).stop().animate({ backgroundColor: "#333333" }, 600);
        });		
});

Using the .stop() method before the animate() fixes the animation queue buildup where the animation will loop repeatedly by moving your mouse back and forth over the item.

Conclusion

The menu is a great addition to any interface; it’s easy for us to set up and easy for our visitors to use, it’s tactile and interactive and can be used in a variety of situations.

If you have suggestions or comments, feel free to let me know about it; I am still learning.

Check out the demo of “Slick Drop down Menu with Easing Effect With jQuery & CSS”.

Download Zip File.

To Be Continued on DAY 4…