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Web Design Tutorials

Resizable tabs navigation with background image

This tutorial will explain how to create a resizable tabs navigation using CSS and background images. Compatible with all major browsers.

Download the image used in this tutorial by clicking on the download link below.

Download | Demo

To start with we need to create a simple layout with a list. Please make sure that each link contains tag.

	

		

			
home
			
services
			
about us
			
contact us
 
		
	
	

In the first instance we will style the main elements of the layout.

html, body {
	margin: 0px;
	padding: 0px;
}

body {
	text-align: center;
}

#Wrapper {
	font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	font-size: 11px;
	color: #333333;
	width: 765px;
	margin-top: 0px;
	margin-right: auto;
	margin-bottom: 0px;
	margin-left: auto;
	padding: 0px;
	text-align: left;
	height: auto;
}

#Container {
	color: #333;
	clear: both;
	width: 723px;
	float: left;
	display: block;
	border-right-width: 1px;
	border-bottom-width: 1px;
	border-left-width: 1px;
	border-top-style: solid;
	border-right-style: solid;
	border-bottom-style: solid;
	border-left-style: solid;
	border-right-color: #666666;
	border-bottom-color: #666666;
	border-left-color: #666666;
	border-top-color: #666666;
	border-top-width: 1px;
	padding: 20px;
	margin: 0px;
} 

Now we need to style our "Navigation" div.

#Navigation {
	font-size: 12px;
	color: #333333;
	height: 25px;
	width: auto;
	padding: 0px;
	margin: 0px;
} 

Lastly we need to format our navigation. We will add background images to <a> and <span> tags. Becuase <span> is placed inside <a> tag it will expand it defining the size of the link.

#mainNav {
	margin: 0px;
	padding: 0px;
	list-style-image: none;
	list-style-type: none;
}

#mainNav li {
	float: left;
	margin-top: 0px;
	margin-right: 1px;
	margin-bottom: 0px;
	margin-left: 0px;
	padding-top: 0px;
	padding-right: 0px;
	padding-bottom: 0px;
	padding-left: 0px;
}

#mainNav li a {
	margin: 0px;
	background-attachment: scroll;
	background-image: url(images/tabs_2.png);
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-position: right 0px;
	font-weight: normal;
	color: #666666;
	text-decoration: none;
	height: auto;
	width: auto;
	float: left;
	padding-top: 0px;
	padding-right: 10px;
	padding-bottom: 0px;
	padding-left: 0px;
}

#mainNav li a:hover {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #CCCCCC;
}

#mainNav li a span {
	background-attachment: scroll;
	background-image: url(images/tabs_2.png);
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-position: 0px 0px;
	display: block;
	padding-top: 6px;
	padding-right: 20px;
	padding-bottom: 0px;
	padding-left: 30px;
	height: 19px;
	width: auto;
	float: left;
	cursor: pointer;
	cursor: hand;
	margin: 0px;
}

#mainNav li a.active {
	background-attachment: scroll;
	background-image: url(images/tabs_2.png);
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-position: right -47px;
}

#mainNav li a.active span {
	background-attachment: scroll;
	background-image: url(images/tabs_2.png);
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-position: 0px -47px;
}

#mainNav li a.active:hover {
	color: #FFFFFF;
	text-decoration: none;
	cursor: pointer;
	cursor: hand;
} 

And that´s it