---
category: Navigation
created: '2019-11-29'
description: Create a dropdown with CSS
keywords: css dropdown, css menu
thumbnail: /assets/css-layout/thumbnails/dropdown.png
title: Dropdown
---

## HTML

```html index.html
<div class="dropdown">
    <!-- The trigger element -->
    <div class="dropdown__trigger">...</div>

    <!-- The content -->
    <div class="dropdown__content">...</div>
</div>
```

## CSS

```css styles.css
.dropdown {
    position: relative;
}

.dropdown__trigger {
    cursor: pointer;
}

/* Hide the dropdown's content by default */
.dropdown__content {
    display: none;

    /* Position it right below the trigger element */
    left: 0;
    padding-top: 0.25rem;
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;

    /* It should be on the top of other elements */
    background-color: #fff;
    z-index: 9999;
}

/* Show the content when hover on the container */
.dropdown:hover .dropdown__content {
    display: block;
}
```

You can use a [triangle button](https://phuoc.ng/collection/css-layout/triangle-buttons/) to indicate that there is content under it.

Move the mouse over the button to see the dropdown.

<Playground>
```css placeholders.css hidden
.lines {
    padding: 0.25rem 0;
    width: 100%;
    align-items: center;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
    flex-direction: column;
}
.line {
    background: #d1d5db;
    height: 1px;
    margin-bottom: 0.25rem;
}
.line.line--20 {
    width: 20%;
}
.line.line--40 {
    width: 40%;
}
.line.line--60 {
    width: 60%;
}
.line.line--80 {
    width: 80%;
}
.line.line--100 {
    width: 100%;
}
.rectangle {
    background: #d1d5db;
    border-radius: 0.25rem;
    height: var(--rectangle-height);
    width: var(--rectangle-width);
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--20 {
    --rectangle-width: 20%;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--40 {
    --rectangle-width: 40%;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--60 {
    --rectangle-width: 60%;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--80 {
    --rectangle-width: 80%;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--100 {
    --rectangle-width: 100%;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--sm {
    --rectangle-height: 0.5rem;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--md {
    --rectangle-height: 2rem;
}
.rectangle--hor.rectangle--lg {
    --rectangle-height: 4rem;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--20 {
    --rectangle-height: 20%;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--40 {
    --rectangle-height: 40%;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--60 {
    --rectangle-height: 60%;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--80 {
    --rectangle-height: 80%;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--100 {
    --rectangle-height: 100%;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--sm {
    --rectangle-width: 0.5rem;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--md {
    --rectangle-width: 2rem;
}
.rectangle--ver.rectangle--lg {
    --rectangle-width: 4rem;
}
.triangle {
    border-style: solid;
    height: 0;
    width: 0;
}
.triangle--t {
    border-color: transparent transparent #d1d5db transparent;
    border-width: 0 var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size);
}
.triangle--r {
    border-color: transparent transparent transparent #d1d5db;
    border-width: var(--triangle-size) 0 var(--triangle-size) 1rem;
}
.triangle--b {
    border-color: #d1d5db transparent transparent transparent;
    border-width: var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size) 0 var(--triangle-size);
}
.triangle--l {
    border-color: transparent #d1d5db transparent transparent;
    border-width: var(--triangle-size) 1rem var(--triangle-size) 0;
}
.triangle--tr {
    border-color: transparent #d1d5db transparent transparent;
    border-width: 0 var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size) 0;
}
.triangle--br {
    border-color: transparent transparent #d1d5db transparent;
    border-width: 0 0 var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size);
}
.triangle--bl {
    border-color: transparent transparent transparent #d1d5db;
    border-width: var(--triangle-size) 0 0 var(--triangle-size);
}
.triangle--tl {
    border-color: #d1d5db transparent transparent transparent;
    border-width: var(--triangle-size) var(--triangle-size) 0 0;
}
.triangle--sm {
    --triangle-size: 0.5rem;
}
.triangle--md {
    --triangle-size: 2rem;
}
.triangle--lg {
    --triangle-size: 4rem;
}
```

```css styles.css hidden
body {
    align-items: center;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
    height: 24rem;
}
.dropdown {
    position: relative;

    /* Demo */
    width: 6rem;

    align-items: flex-start;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
}

.dropdown__trigger {
    cursor: pointer;

    /* Demo */
    border: 1px solid #d1d5db;
    border-radius: 0.25rem;
    height: 2rem;
    width: 6rem;
    padding: 0.25rem 0.5rem;

    align-items: center;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
}

/* Hide the dropdown's content by default */
.dropdown__content {
    display: none;

    /* Position it right below the trigger element */
    left: 0;
    padding-top: 0.25rem;
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;

    /* It should be on the top of other elements */
    background-color: #fff;
    z-index: 9999;
}

.dropdown__body {
    /* Demo */
    border: 1px solid #d1d5db;
    border-radius: 0.25rem;
    height: 6rem;
    width: 8rem;
}

/* Show the content when hover on the container */
.dropdown:hover .dropdown__content {
    display: block;
}
```

```html index.html hidden
<div class="dropdown">
    <div class="dropdown__trigger">
        <div class="rectangle rectangle--hor rectangle--sm rectangle--100"></div>
        <div class="triangle triangle--b triangle--sm"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="dropdown__content">
        <div class="dropdown__body">
            <div class="lines">
                <div class="line line--80"></div>
                <div class="line line--40"></div>
                <div class="line line--100"></div>
                <div class="line line--60"></div>
                <div class="line line--20"></div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
```
</Playground>