dl pop out menu?

Question

I'm trying to create a popout portion to a vertical menu i already have on a webpage. I used a DL formated menu. I would like to make it so when you hover over some of the menu items a popout coming out to the side. I've seen this done with UL lits but never with a DL menu. Does anyone know how to do this or if it can even be done?

Answer 1

If it can be done with an UL (Unordered List), it can be done with a DL (Definition List) as they both share a common parent.

This can be down using css (cascading style sheets) and javascript. With css you create different blocks that can be hidden. You would want the menu (block) to be hidden before and after someone hovers over, and it to be unhidden when someone hovers over.

You may also need to use a scripting language like javascript to control the hiding and unhiding, although it could be accomplished just in css.

Just be aware that most browsers will display the contents of your website differently, as they all implement the 'web standards' differently. Some of the standards do not even work in some browsers. This can cause headaches, but there are a lot of resources on the net, if you know what you are looking for (can type in the right words in the search engine).

CSS Level 2
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2

XHTML 1.0
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1

HTML 4.01
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4

For javascript, you could try a couple of locations for basic stuff, then search for what you actually need, or are having trouble with later. I do not know how good these places are, or if they contain malicious software.

Most people recommend this site though
http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

Info about javascript, by the developers of it.
http://www.mozilla.org/js/

Some other tutorials and code sites
http://www.javascript.com/
http://javascript.internet.com

and plenty more available from the source below