Responsive Mega Mega Dropdown Menu for website

Mega Dropdown

A responsive and easy to customise mega-dropdown component.A responsive mega dropdown component with sub-categories. Here is a quick animation we put together to show you our mobile vs desktop approach:

Quick animation

Creating the structure

The HTML is structured in 2 main elements: the <header>, containing the dropdown (.cd-dropdown-wrapper), and the <main> for all the main content.
The .cd-dropdown-wrapper contains a .cd-dropdown-trigger, to trigger the dropdown, and a .cd-dropdown, which is composed of nested unordered lists.

<header>
	<div class="cd-dropdown-wrapper">
		<a class="cd-dropdown-trigger" href="#0">Dropdown</a>
		<nav class="cd-dropdown">
			<h2>Title</h2>
			<a href="#0" class="cd-close">Close</a>
			<ul class="cd-dropdown-content">
				<li>
					<form class="cd-search">
						<input type="search" placeholder="Search...">
					</form>
				</li>
				<li class="has-children">
					<a href="#0">Clothing</a>
 
					<ul class="cd-secondary-dropdown is-hidden">
						<li class="go-back"><a href="#0">Menu</a></li>
						<li class="see-all"><a href="#0">All Clothing</a></li>
						<li class="has-children">
							<a href="#0">Accessories</a>
 
							<ul class="is-hidden">
								<li class="go-back"><a href="#0">Clothing</a></li>
								<li class="see-all"><a href="#0">All Accessories</a></li>
								<li class="has-children">
									<a href="#0">Beanies</a>
 
									<ul class="is-hidden">
										<li class="go-back"><a href="#0">Accessories</a></li>
										<li class="see-all"><a href="#0">All Benies</a></li>
										<li><a href="#0">Caps &amp; Hats</a></li>
										<!-- other list items here -->
									</ul>
								</li>
								<li class="has-children">
									<a href="#0">Caps &amp; Hats</a>
 
									<ul class="is-hidden">
										<li class="go-back"><a href="#0">Accessories</a></li>
										<li class="see-all"><a href="#0">All Caps &amp; Hats</a></li>
										<li><a href="#0">Beanies</a></li>
										<!-- other list items here -->
									</ul>
								</li>
								<li><a href="#0">Glasses</a></li>
								<!-- other list items here -->
							</ul>
						</li>
 
						<li class="has-children">
							<!-- other list items here -->
						</li>
 
						<li class="has-children">
							<!-- other list items here -->
						</li>
 
						<li class="has-children">
							<!-- other list items here -->
						</li>
					</ul> <!-- .cd-secondary-dropdown -->
				</li> <!-- .has-children -->
 
				<li class="has-children">
					<!-- other list items here -->
				</li> <!-- .has-children -->
 
				<li class="has-children">
					<!-- other list items here -->
				</li> <!-- .has-children -->
 
				<li class="cd-divider">Divider</li>
 
				<li><a href="#0">Page 1</a></li>
				<!-- other list items here -->
 
			</ul> <!-- .cd-dropdown-content -->
		</nav> <!-- .cd-dropdown -->
	</div> <!-- .cd-dropdown-wrapper -->
</header>
 
<main class="cd-main-content">
	<!-- your content here -->
</main>

Adding style

For mobile devices, the basic idea was to let the user focus totally on the dropdown content, once it has been activated.
This is why we assigned a fixed position to the dropdown, and set its width and height to 100%. By default, it is hidden right above the viewport (translateY(-100%)). When the user clicks the trigger element, the .dropdown-is-active class is added to the dropdown which is translated back into the viewport.

.cd-dropdown {
  position: fixed;
  z-index: 1;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  transform: translateY(-100%);
  transition: transform 0.5s;
}
.cd-dropdown.dropdown-is-active {
  transform: translateY(0);
}

When user selects a new sublevel in the dropdown, the visible items are translated to the left outside the viewport (using the .move-out class), while the new items slide back into the viewport (removing the class .is-hidden class from their

parent element).

.cd-dropdown-content.is-hidden, .cd-dropdown-content ul.is-hidden {
  /* push the secondary dropdown items to the right */
  transform: translateX(100%);
}
 
.cd-dropdown-content.move-out > li > a, .cd-dropdown-content ul.move-out > li > a {
  /* push the dropdown items to the left when secondary dropdown slides in */
  transform: translateX(-100%);
}

On bigger devices (viewport width bigger than 1024px), instead, there’s enough space to place content side by side, with no need to replace the visible content.

@media only screen and (min-width: 1024px) {
  .cd-dropdown {
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;
    /* reset style*/
    height: auto;
    width: auto;
    opacity: 0;
    visibility: hidden;
    transform: translateY(30px);
    transition: opacity 0.3s 0s, visibility 0s 0.3s, transform 0.3s 0s;
  }
  .cd-dropdown.dropdown-is-active {
    visibility: visible;
    opacity: 1;
    transform: translateY(0);
    transition: opacity 0.3s 0s, visibility 0.3s 0s, transform 0.3s 0s;
  }

  .cd-dropdown-content {
    /* reset mobile style */
    position: static;
    height: auto;
    width: 280px;
  }
  .cd-dropdown-content .cd-secondary-dropdown, .cd-dropdown-content .cd-dropdown-gallery, .cd-dropdown-content .cd-dropdown-icons {
    transform: translateX(0);
    left: 100%;
    height: auto;
  }
  .cd-dropdown-content .cd-secondary-dropdown.is-hidden, .cd-dropdown-content .cd-dropdown-gallery.is-hidden, .cd-dropdown-content .cd-dropdown-icons.is-hidden {
    /* reset mobile style */
    transform: translateX(0);
  }
  .cd-dropdown-content > .has-children > ul {
    visibility: hidden;
  }
  .cd-dropdown-content > .has-children:hover > ul {
    /* when hover over .cd-dropdown-content items - show subnavigation */
    visibility: visible;
  }
  .cd-dropdown-content > .has-children:hover > .cd-secondary-dropdown > li > ul {
    /* if .cd-secondary-dropdown is visible - show also subnavigation */
    visibility: visible;
  }
}

Changelog

JUN 17, 2015

• Bug fixed on mobile version - prevent default when tapping on .has-children direct children

MAY 15, 2015

• Integrated menu-aid plugin to detect diagonal movement
• Created the .open-to-left class to open dropdown on the left
• Added support for laptops with touchscreen

MAY 13, 2015

• Resource released by CodyHouse