You'llnoticethatboththehoverbackgroundandthedefaultbackgroundaresavedas1giffile.Thiswaythehovereffectwillgosmoothwithoutinteruption.Theentireimageisloadedandthebrowserdoesn’thavetoloadthehoverimagesonthemomenttheuserhoversthebox.Tobesuretheboxcangrowwesavethebottompartoftheboxandthetoppartofthebox,makingitlongenoughtobesuretherewillbenogaps(tillacertainenlargement).
TheCSSstyles
Theunorderedlist“differences”
ThisistheCSSfortheliststartingwiththeunorderedlistofthe4boxes.TopreventthemarginstocollapseI’veaddedfloat:left. #differences{
margin:0.5em01.5em0;
padding:0;
list-style:none;
width:100%;
float:left;
}
Thelielementstyleslooklikethis:
#differencesli{
margin:018px00;
padding:0;
float:left;
background:url(../images/diff-tabs-top-wide.gif)no-repeat00;
}
Iaddaright-marginof18pxtocreateagutterbetweeneachbox.Thelastboxintherowdoesn’tneedthismargin.Eachlielementhasanid.Theidforthelastoneis#diff-4.SoIaddthisCSSstyle:
#differencesli#diff-4{
margin-right:0;
}
Makingsurethetabbedboxescangrow
Asyou’venoticed,we’velinkedthetoppartofthebackgroundimage(thetabshape)tothelielementviaCSS.Tomakesurethetabbedboxescangrowiftheuserenlargeshistext,weneedtoaddanextradivineachlielement.ThiswaywecanlinkthebottompartoftheimagetothisdivviaCSS:
#differencesdiv{
font-size:0.94em;
padding:6px;
background:url(../images/diff-tabs-bottom-wide.gif)no-repeat0100%;
}
WithCSS3wedon’thavetogothroughthishassleofaddingextradivs,becauseCSS3allowsformultiplebackgroundimagesononeelement.ThisismytopfavoriteCSS3feature:)
Creatingthehovereffect
I’veusedbackgroundpositioningtocreatethehovereffectonthelielementusingthe:hoverpseudo-class.TheCSSlookslikethis:
#differencesli:hover{
background-position:-156px0;
}
#differencesli:hoverdiv{
background-position:-156px100%;
}
Thexcoordinateissetto-156px.Thiswaythepinkorangepartofthebackgroundimagewillbeshown.Thefirststylerepresentsthetoppartofthetabbedboxandthe2ndonethebottompart.RememberIhadtoaddanextradivtomakesuretheboxcangrow(tillacertainenlargement).
Thepageusesadynamicresolutiondependentlayout
Notsureifyou’venoticedornot,butifyouresizeyourbrowserwindowtolessthen750pixelswide,thepagewilladjustitslayout.ThisisdoneusingajavascriptcreatedbyKevinHaleofParticleTreeincombinationwithCSS.I’musinganextraCSSstylesheetthatisappliedifthebrowserwindowisresizedtolessthen750pixels.Bydefaultthepage/siteusesthewiderversion,whichisaimedtoascreenresolutionof1024x768.About90%ofthevisitorsofthePrudentialKansasCityvisitorsareusingascreenresolutionofatleast1024x768pixels.
HopefullysomeofyouhavelearnedfromthisarticleandareinspiredtouseCSSinacreativewaywithoutoverlookingtheaccessibilitypartofitandkeepingtherightstructureinmindforthe(X)HTML.I’mstillcreatingnewtemplatesforthiswebsiteonanoccasionalbasis.Thiswebsiteisratherbigandnewfeaturesareconstantlyaddedbytheclientandthedeveloper.
