How TO - Responsive Top Navigation

Learn how to create a responsive top navigation menu with CSS and JavaScript.

Responsive Navigation Bar

Resize the browser window to see how the responsive navigation menu works:

Create A Responsive Topnav

Step 1) Add HTML:

Example

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">

<div class="topnav" id="myTopnav">
<a href="#home" class="active">Home</a>
<a href="#news">News</a>
<a href="#contact">Contact</a>
<a href="#about">About</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);" class="icon" onclick="myFunction()">
<i class="fa fa-bars"></i>
</a>
</div>

The link with class="icon" is used to open and close the topnav on small screens.

Step 2) Add CSS:

Example

/* Add a black background color to the top navigation */
.topnav {
  background-color: #333;
overflow: hidden;
}

/* Style the links inside the navigation bar */
.topnav a {
float: left;
display: block;
color: #f2f2f2;
text-align: center;
padding: 14px 16px;
text-decoration: none;
  font-size: 17px;
}

/* Change the color of links on hover */
.topnav a:hover {
  background-color: #ddd;
color: black;
}

/* Add an active class to highlight the current page */
.topnav a.active {
background-color: #04AA6D;
color: white;
}

/* Hide the link that should open and close the topnav on small screens */
.topnav .icon {
display: none;
}

Add media queries:

Example

/* When the screen is less than 600 pixels wide, hide all links, except for the first one ("Home"). Show the link that contains should open and close the topnav (.icon) */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.topnav a:not(:first-child) {display: none;}
.topnav a.icon {
    float: right;
    display: block;
}
}

/* The "responsive" class is added to the topnav with JavaScript when the user clicks on the icon. This class makes the topnav look good on small screens (display the links vertically instead of horizontally) */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.topnav.responsive {position: relative;}
.topnav.responsive a.icon {
    position: absolute;
    right: 0;
    top: 0;
}
.topnav.responsive a {
    float: none;
    display: block;
    text-align: left;
}
}

Step 3) Add JavaScript:

Example

/* Toggle between adding and removing the "responsive" class to topnav when the user clicks on the icon */
function myFunction() {
var x = document.getElementById("myTopnav");
if (x.className === "topnav") {
    x.className += " responsive";
  } else {
    x.className = "topnav";
}
}

Try it Yourself »

Tip: Go to our CSS Navbar Tutorial to learn more about navigation bars.

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