Responsive Navigation Bar Tutorial | HTML & CSS

Hello friends,

In this post I will show you how you can create an awesome responsive navbar using just HTML and CSS. We will also add some cool hover effect on our links.

This tutorial needs you to have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS.

The following is a sneak pick of what we will be creating

You can preview the live version here: Responsive Nav

You can get the entire source code here: Source code

Video Tutorial

If you prefer a step by step video tutorial, I got you sorted. For those who prefer to read, you can continue below.

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Desktop Navbar

Let's start by creating the following desktop nav.

As you can see from above, we have the logo on the left and the links on the right. We are also dividing the links into two, the overview links and account links. We will organize our code in the same manner as shown below.

Step 1: HTML Markup

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Nav Bar</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <nav>
      <div class="logo">
        <h2>NavBar</h2>
      </div>
      <div class="nav-items">
        <ul class="overview">
          <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Dashboard</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Rates</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Contact</a></li>
        </ul>
        <ul class="account">
          <li><a href="#">Notifications</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Settings</a></li>
        </ul>
      </div>
    </nav>
    <div class="hero-section"></div>
  </body>
</html>

From the code above, we added a nav tag inside the body. Inside the nav tag we added two div tags. One will hold our logo and the other one will hold our nav items. Inside the nav items, we used two ul elements to divide our links into overview links and account links. We then added a tags for our links inside the li. It is important to note how the code is organized because it will be useful when we layout our nav using css flexbox.

After the nav we are also adding a div with a class of hero-section. We will use it to add the background image.

Let's link our HTML file to our CSS file by adding a link tag at our head as shown below.

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>Nav Bar</title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="main.css" />
  </head>

From above, we are also adding 2 meta tags. The first meta tag will tell the browser to use UTF-8 character encoding which is a method of converting your typed character code into machine readable code. The second meta tag helps in controlling layout in mobile browsers. The width property controls the size of the viewport. The initial-scale controls the zoom level when the page first loads. This will come into play when making our navbar to be mobile responsive.

Step 2: The CSS

@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Rubik&display=swap");

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  font-family: "Rubik", sans-serif;
}

From above we are importing Rubik font from google fonts. Be free to use any font that you want. We are then clearing the defaults by setting the margin and padding for all elements to 0. Setting the box-sizing property as border-box allows us to include the padding and border in an element's total width and height.

Let's style our nav below:

/* Hero section */
.hero-section {
  height: 100vh;
  background: url("hero-bg.jpg") center no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
}
/* Nav */
nav {
  height: 70px;
  background: rgb(20, 20, 20);
  color: rgb(220, 220, 220);
  padding: 0 2rem;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
  align-items: center;
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
}

The most important thing to note from above is the display: flex at our nav. This will make the nav element to be a flex container and by default the flex direction will be row. This will make our logo and nav-items to be side by side. We then push them apart by using justify-content: space-between. Adding position: sticky and top:0 will make our nav to remain at the top even after scroll.

Our links are still aligned vertically. To arrange them in a horizontal manner, lets add the following stylings.

.nav-items,
.overview,
.account {
  display: flex;
}
.overview {
  margin-right: 4rem;
}

Adding a display of flex to the nav-items will place the overview section and the account section side by side. We then place all the li items to be side by side by adding a display of flex to the overview and account. Adding a margin-right to the overview will simply create some spacing between our overview and account.

At this point our links are nicely organized but they don't look pretty. Let's make them pretty 🎨 plus add some cool hover effect

.logo h2 {
  text-decoration: overline;
  font-style: italic;
  color: rgb(0, 206, 206);
  cursor: pointer;
  margin: 0 0.5rem;
}
nav li {
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0 0.5rem;
}
nav a {
  text-decoration: none;
  color: rgb(220, 220, 220);
}
nav a:hover {
  color: #a0ebfd;
}
nav a::after {
  content: "";
  display: block;
  height: 3px;
  background: #a0ebfd;
  width: 0%;
  transition: all ease-in-out 300ms;
}
nav a:hover::after {
  width: 100%;
}

Above we are simply removing the list-style and text-decoration. We are then changing the color for our links and changing it again on hover. We are also creating some spacing between our links using margin: 0 0.5rem at our li.

What I think I should explain in details is the weird syntax ::after. This is called an after pseudo selector. It can enable us to add some content after any html element. What we want to do in this case is to add some underline hover effect. We will create a line under our links by adding a display of block to a::after. This will allow us to give it a height of 3px (you are free to change this value) and a color.

We then create the underline effect by setting the width of our line as 0% and transition it to 100% on hover. At this point our desktop nav is complete and it has the nice hover effect.

Side Navbar

Now it's about time we work on our side navbar. Take a look at the following image. We want something like this.

From above, you can see that there is a lot more going on. Our links now have icons and sections have headings. We also have a menu icon to show/hide our side navbar. We therefore need to edit our HTML file and add all the necessary markup.

Step 3: Edit HTML

This will be our complete HTML markup for both the desktop navbar and side navbar.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <title>Nav Bar</title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="main.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <nav>
      <input type="checkbox" id="check" />
      <label for="check" class="menu">
        <svg
          xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
          width="30"
          height="30"
          fill="currentColor"
          class="bi bi-list"
          viewBox="0 0 16 16"
        >
          <path
            fill-rule="evenodd"
            d="M2.5 12a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5zm0-4a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5zm0-4a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5z"
          />
        </svg>
      </label>
      <div class="logo">
        <h2>NavBar</h2>
      </div>
      <div class="nav-items">
        <ul class="overview">
          <h3>Overview</h3>
          <li>
            <a href="#"
              ><svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-house-fill"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  fill-rule="evenodd"
                  d="m8 3.293 6 6V13.5a1.5 1.5 0 0 1-1.5 1.5h-9A1.5 1.5 0 0 1 2 13.5V9.293l6-6zm5-.793V6l-2-2V2.5a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h1a.5.5 0 0 1 .5.5z"
                />
                <path
                  fill-rule="evenodd"
                  d="M7.293 1.5a1 1 0 0 1 1.414 0l6.647 6.646a.5.5 0 0 1-.708.708L8 2.207 1.354 8.854a.5.5 0 1 1-.708-.708L7.293 1.5z"
                />
              </svg>
              Home</a
            >
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="#">
              <svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-speedometer"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  d="M8 2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5.5V4a.5.5 0 0 1-1 0V2.5A.5.5 0 0 1 8 2zM3.732 3.732a.5.5 0 0 1 .707 0l.915.914a.5.5 0 1 1-.708.708l-.914-.915a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.707zM2 8a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h1.586a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H2.5A.5.5 0 0 1 2 8zm9.5 0a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h1.5a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H12a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5zm.754-4.246a.389.389 0 0 0-.527-.02L7.547 7.31A.91.91 0 1 0 8.85 8.569l3.434-4.297a.389.389 0 0 0-.029-.518z"
                />
                <path
                  fill-rule="evenodd"
                  d="M6.664 15.889A8 8 0 1 1 9.336.11a8 8 0 0 1-2.672 15.78zm-4.665-4.283A11.945 11.945 0 0 1 8 10c2.186 0 4.236.585 6.001 1.606a7 7 0 1 0-12.002 0z"
                />
              </svg>
              Dashboard</a
            >
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="#"
              ><svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-bar-chart-fill"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  d="M1 11a1 1 0 0 1 1-1h2a1 1 0 0 1 1 1v3a1 1 0 0 1-1 1H2a1 1 0 0 1-1-1v-3zm5-4a1 1 0 0 1 1-1h2a1 1 0 0 1 1 1v7a1 1 0 0 1-1 1H7a1 1 0 0 1-1-1V7zm5-5a1 1 0 0 1 1-1h2a1 1 0 0 1 1 1v12a1 1 0 0 1-1 1h-2a1 1 0 0 1-1-1V2z"
                />
              </svg>
              Rates</a
            >
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="#"
              ><svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-envelope-fill"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  d="M.05 3.555A2 2 0 0 1 2 2h12a2 2 0 0 1 1.95 1.555L8 8.414.05 3.555zM0 4.697v7.104l5.803-3.558L0 4.697zM6.761 8.83l-6.57 4.027A2 2 0 0 0 2 14h12a2 2 0 0 0 1.808-1.144l-6.57-4.027L8 9.586l-1.239-.757zm3.436-.586L16 11.801V4.697l-5.803 3.546z"
                />
              </svg>
              Contact</a
            >
          </li>
        </ul>
        <ul class="account">
          <h3>Account</h3>
          <li>
            <a href="#"
              ><svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-bell-fill"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  d="M8 16a2 2 0 0 0 2-2H6a2 2 0 0 0 2 2zm.995-14.901a1 1 0 1 0-1.99 0A5.002 5.002 0 0 0 3 6c0 1.098-.5 6-2 7h14c-1.5-1-2-5.902-2-7 0-2.42-1.72-4.44-4.005-4.901z"
                />
              </svg>
              Notifications</a
            >
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="#"
              ><svg
                xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
                width="16"
                height="16"
                fill="currentColor"
                class="bi bi-gear-fill"
                viewBox="0 0 16 16"
              >
                <path
                  d="M9.405 1.05c-.413-1.4-2.397-1.4-2.81 0l-.1.34a1.464 1.464 0 0 1-2.105.872l-.31-.17c-1.283-.698-2.686.705-1.987 1.987l.169.311c.446.82.023 1.841-.872 2.105l-.34.1c-1.4.413-1.4 2.397 0 2.81l.34.1a1.464 1.464 0 0 1 .872 2.105l-.17.31c-.698 1.283.705 2.686 1.987 1.987l.311-.169a1.464 1.464 0 0 1 2.105.872l.1.34c.413 1.4 2.397 1.4 2.81 0l.1-.34a1.464 1.464 0 0 1 2.105-.872l.31.17c1.283.698 2.686-.705 1.987-1.987l-.169-.311a1.464 1.464 0 0 1 .872-2.105l.34-.1c1.4-.413 1.4-2.397 0-2.81l-.34-.1a1.464 1.464 0 0 1-.872-2.105l.17-.31c.698-1.283-.705-2.686-1.987-1.987l-.311.169a1.464 1.464 0 0 1-2.105-.872l-.1-.34zM8 10.93a2.929 2.929 0 1 1 0-5.86 2.929 2.929 0 0 1 0 5.858z"
                />
              </svg>
              Settings</a
            >
          </li>
        </ul>
      </div>
    </nav>
    <div class="hero-section"></div>
  </body>
</html>

Now, the above code looks so messed up because of the svg icons. But don't worry, I will try to break everything down for you. The first thing we are adding is a checkbox just after the opening nav tag. We then add a label for this checkbox. The label holds the svg menu icon.

I got the svg icons from https://icons.getbootstrap.com/

From below, note how the id of the checkbox is similar to the for attribute of the label. This links our label to our checkbox such that when we click on the label, it should check and uncheck the check box. This is what will help us to show and hide the side navbar depending on whether the checkbox is checked or not. I also manually manipulated the width and height of our svg to 30

<input type="checkbox" id="check" />
      <label for="check" class="menu">
        <svg
          xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
          width="30"
          height="30"
          fill="currentColor"
          class="bi bi-list"
          viewBox="0 0 16 16"
        >
          <path
            fill-rule="evenodd"
            d="M2.5 12a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5zm0-4a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5zm0-4a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h10a.5.5 0 0 1 0 1H3a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5z"
          />
        </svg>
      </label>

The next thing we added is some headings for our overview and the account sections. They will make our side navbar to look more organized. Lastly we added svg icons inside our a tags just before the text. Note how there is a spacing between the icons and the text.

Step 4: Edit CSS

If you preview what we have on the browser, you will see that our desktop navbar is now messed up. It has unnecessary headings and icons.

We can hide all the svg's, headings and checkbox with the following code in our CSS.

nav svg, .nav-items h3, #check, .menu {
  display: none;
}

Let's style the side navbar

/* Responsive */
@media (max-width: 750px) {
  .nav-items {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    right: -250px;
    height: 100vh;
    width: 250px;
    flex-direction: column;
    justify-content: space-evenly;
    background: rgb(20, 20, 20);
    padding: 2rem;
    transition: all ease-in-out 500ms;
  }
  .overview,
  .account {
    flex-direction: column;
    width: auto;
  }
  .overview {
    margin: 0;
  }
  .nav-items h3 {
    display: inline-block;
    font-weight: 400;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    font-size: 13px;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }
}

Above we a setting a break point for screen sizes using @media (max-width: 750px). This code is what helps us differentiate between the mobile version and the desktop version. It is called CSS Media Queries. When we have a screen with a width of 750px or less, the code inside the @media block will be applied, else the code will be ignored.

We are then selecting the nav-items and adding stylings to make it our side navbar when we are at a screen size of 750px or less. We are changing the direction of our flex items by using the flex-direction property. Note how the right property is set to -254px. By default we want side navbar to be hidden. When the checkbox is checked we will move the side navbar from -254px to 0px.

This preview is when right is set to 0px

The following code is the last piece of the puzzle.

nav svg {
    display: inline-block;
    cursor: pointer;
    vertical-align: top;
  }
  nav li {
    margin: 1rem 0;
  }
  nav a {
    display: inline-block;
  }
  nav a:hover {
    margin-left: 2px;
    transition: all ease-in-out 300ms;
  }
  .menu {
    display: inline-block;
    position: fixed;
    right: 2.5rem;
    z-index: 99;
  }
  #check:checked ~ .nav-items {
    right: 0;
  }

This character ~ is called tilde. In CSS it is called the general sibling combinator. It will help us select the .nav-items which is a sibling of our checkbox. We select the nav-items only when the checkbox is checked and set the right property to 0. This will make our side navbar to be visible.

Test the complete version here: Responsive Nav

From above there are other stylings to make our icons, links and menu visible and organized. I didn't cover them because I think they are self explanatory. If you don't understand you can check out the video I pinned at the very top for a more detailed explanation.

Our final CSS file will look like the following:

@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Rubik&display=swap");

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  font-family: "Rubik", sans-serif;
}

/* Nav */
nav {
  height: 70px;
  background: rgb(20, 20, 20);
  color: rgb(220, 220, 220);
  padding: 0 2rem;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
  align-items: center;
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
}
nav svg {
  display: none;
}
.logo h2 {
  text-decoration: overline;
  font-style: italic;
  color: rgb(0, 206, 206);
  cursor: pointer;
  margin: 0 0.5rem;
}
.nav-items {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
}
.overview,
.account {
  display: flex;
}
.overview {
  margin-right: 4rem;
}
.nav-items h3 {
  display: none;
}
nav li {
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0 0.5rem;
}
nav a {
  text-decoration: none;
  color: rgb(220, 220, 220);
}
nav a:hover {
  color: #a0ebfd;
}
nav a::after {
  content: "";
  display: block;
  height: 3px;
  background: #a0ebfd;
  width: 0%;
  transition: all ease-in-out 300ms;
}
nav a:hover::after {
  width: 100%;
}
#check,
.menu {
  display: none;
}

/* Hero section */
.hero-section {
  height: 100vh;
  background: url("hero-bg.jpg") center no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
}

/* Responsive */
@media (max-width: 750px) {
  .nav-items {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
    height: 100vh;
    width: 250px;
    flex-direction: column;
    justify-content: space-evenly;
    background: rgb(20, 20, 20);
    padding: 2rem;
    transition: all ease-in-out 500ms;
  }
  .overview,
  .account {
    flex-direction: column;
    width: auto;
  }
  .overview {
    margin: 0;
  }
  .nav-items h3 {
    display: inline-block;
    font-weight: 400;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    font-size: 13px;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }
  nav svg {
    display: inline-block;
    cursor: pointer;
    vertical-align: top;
  }
  nav li {
    margin: 1rem 0;
  }
  nav a {
    display: inline-block;
  }
  nav a:hover {
    margin-left: 2px;
    transition: all ease-in-out 300ms;
  }
  .menu {
    display: inline-block;
    position: fixed;
    right: 2.5rem;
    z-index: 99;
  }
  #check:checked ~ .nav-items {
    right: 0;
  }
}