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<h1 id="menu-toggle-with-pure-css">Menu Toggle with Pure CSS</h1>
<p>2020-10-19</p>
<p>When thinking through navigation designs for mobile devices sometimes the best option is to store away the content behind a toggle button. This button would then display the menu items upon interaction. Let me show you how to create such an element with only CSS - no need for JavaScript today!</p>
<h2 id="before-we-begin">Before we begin</h2>
<p>I would like to point out that the concept of “toggling” the main menu (even for mobile) is not always the best solution. If you’re interested, you can take a look at a previous article I wrote explaining why: <a href="/hamburger-menu-alternative.html">Using Hamburger Menus? Try Sausage Links</a></p>
<p>Now that we have mentioned possible pitfalls of relying so heavily on toggle menus, let’s build one!</p>
<h2 id="our-final-product">Our Final Product</h2>
<p><img src="/public/images/menu-toggle-css.png" alt="Menu toggle made from pure CSS" /></p>
<p><a href="https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/mdEEvEX">Live CodePen Example</a></p>
<h2 id="the-html">The HTML</h2>
<p>To implement this design you really don’t need much in terms of HTML:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>A single <code>checkbox</code> input</p></li>
<li><p>A <code>label</code> that corresponds to the <code>checkbox</code></p></li>
<li><p>A <code>nav</code> element to house our unordered list items</p>
<p>Menu</p></li>
</ul>
<p>That’s it!</p>
<h2 id="the-css">The CSS</h2>
<p>The first thing we need to do is “hide” the <code>checkbox</code> input element. It’s important to avoid using <code>display: none</code> or <code>visibility: hidden</code> in order to achieve this. Those CSS properties can negatively impact accessibility (specifically screen readers). So we will be relying on the <code>position</code>, <code>z-index</code> and <code>opacity</code> properties to help us out.</p>
<pre><code>/* Set the input position to absolute, send it off screen with zero opacity */
input[type="checkbox"] {
left: -9999px;
opacity: 0;
position: absolute;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Then we give our corresponding <code>label</code> a minor face-lift to make it appear more button-like:</p>
<pre><code>/* Minor visual styling to make the label more button-y */
label {
border: 1px solid currentColor;
border-radius: 4px;
cursor: pointer;
padding: 10px;
}
</code></pre>
<p>For our main <code>nav</code> element, we want to set it’s position to <code>absolute</code> in order to avoid any janky page rendering issues that might occur when toggling the menu:</p>
<p>`
/* Set nav to absolute (avoids odd page rendering space pop-in) */
nav {
opacity: 0;
position: absolute;
z-index: -2;
}</p>
<p>The last step is to actually <em>show</em> the menu if the user toggles the <code>checkbox</code>:</p>
<pre><code>/* Show nav when checkbox is checked */
input[type="checkbox"]:checked ~ nav {
opacity: 1;
z-index: 1;
}
</code></pre>
<p>It might not look like much, but you now have a fully functional menu toggle - <strong>made with pure CSS</strong>! </p>
<h2 id="with-great-power">With Great Power…</h2>
<p>Although this design is very simple to implement, please remember to use these types of menus wisely. Just because you <em>can</em> do something, doesn’t always mean you <em>should</em>.</p>
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