Vertical CSS menu with dashes

I have been really very busy this month. Hardly had time to post anything on my blog. So thought I better post a short quick tutorial of a dashed vertical css menu.

Preview (it will look like this at the end)

(Link 1 is hovered in the image)

HTML (the ever popular unordered list!):

<div id="menu">
<h1>My menu</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 5</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

Now you will require some css.

CSS code:

#menu {
font-family: Arial;
width: 150px;
padding: 0px;
margin: 0px;
}

#menu h1 {
display: block;
background-color:#666666;
font-size: 16px;
padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
color: #ffffff;
margin: 0px;
width:147px;
}

#menu ul {
list-style: none;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
border: none;
}

#menu ul li {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
}

#menu ul li a {
font-size: 14px;
display: block;
border-bottom: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;
padding: 5px 0px 2px 4px;
text-decoration: none;
color: #666666;
width:150px;
}

#menu ul li a:hover, #vertmenu ul li a:focus {
color: #000000;
background-color: #eeeeee;
}

Tabbed navigation using jQuery

Someone asked me to show how I created the tabbed navigation thing in my blog (right column). Just to let you know, I am just using an existing template for my blog, but wish to design one myself in future.

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a simple tabbed navigation using jQuery (as you know, its a javascript library).

Requirements
You will require two javascript files for doing this.
jQuery library - Download here
jQuery UI (user interface) tabs - Download here

HTML code
Suppose we have three div elements in our webpage (box-1, box-2, and box-3), and we want them in tabs.

<div id="container-1">
<ul>
<li><a href="#box-1"><span>One</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#box-2"><span>Two</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#box-3"><span>Three</span></a></li>
</ul>

<br />

<div id="box-1">
Box 1 content here
</div>

<div id="box-2">
Box 2 here...
</div>

<div id="box-3">
Do you really need Box #3?
</div>
</div>

CSS - some floats for ul and li

.ui-tabs-hide {
display: none;
}

ul {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
}

ul li {
float: left;
padding-right: 10px;
list-style: none;
}

br {
clear: both;
}

a {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
}

jQuery
Add this code at the end of your webpage (right before the closing body tag)

<script type="text/javascript">
$(window).bind('load', function() {
$('#container-1 > ul').tabs();
});
</script>

I assume you havent forgotten to add the two javascript files I mentioned earlier inside the HEAD tag. Have fun.

CSS form design without tables

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to simulate a table-like interface for designing a form using css. Since tables are not involved, we will require the label element for each and every field in our form.

Preview
This is what we will be doing.


here goes the css code:

body {
font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
}

form p {
clear: both;
}

fieldset {
width: 350px;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
}

legend {
font-weight: bold;
font-size:1.2em;
}

label {
font-weight: bold;
width: 120px;
float: left;
}

input[type=text] {
width: 200px;
}

textarea {
width: 200px;
height: 100px;
}

input[type=submit], input[type=reset] {
font-size: 18px;
}

HTML (the form itself)
We are using the html p tag only for the css clear property. This is necessary for the css float property to work properly.

<form id="myform">
<fieldset>
<legend>Sample form</legend>

<p>
<label for="text1">Text input</label>
<input type="text" name="text1" value="text field">
</p>

<p>
<label for="text2">Text input 2</label>
<input type="text" name="text2" value="another text field">
</p>

<p>
<label for="text3">Textarea</label>
<textarea name="text3" rows="5" cols="20"></textarea>
</p>

<p>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
<input type="reset" value="Reset">
</p>

</fieldset>
</form>

Switch CSS stylesheets using jQuery

CSS Stylesheet Switcher - what does it mean?
A stylesheet switcher allows your visitors to choose from a number of stylesheets they would like to view your website with. For example, you may have three pre-made stylesheets (say red, blue and green) and you want your visitors to choose and apply any one of them in your webpage without redirecting them to a new page or refreshing the page.

This tutorial will show you how to create such a client side css stylesheet switcher using jQuery javascript library.

Default Stylesheet
I assume you already have a default stylesheet implemented in your webpage

<link rel="stylesheet" href="default.css" type="text/css">

The list of options available to your visitors
List your available stylesheets here (follow the format)

<ul>
<li><a id="css-red" href="#red">Red</a></li>
<li><a id="css-blue" href="#blue">Blue</a></li>
<li><a id="css-green" href="#green">Green</a></li>
</ul>

Time for some JavaScript
This is the jQuery code that switches your stylesheets instantly once the visitor clicks on any of the links (listed above in ul tag)

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
// red
$("#css-red").click(function() {
$("link[rel=stylesheet]").attr({href : "red.css"});
});

// blue
$("#css-blue").click(function() {
$("link[rel=stylesheet]").attr({href : "blue.css"});
});

// green
$("#css-green").click(function() {
$("link[rel=stylesheet]").attr({href : "green.css"});
});
});
</script>