8

I'm using bootstrap 3 for desktop, and only using nav, rather than navbar.
How to make a dropdown on hover and click?

<ul id="nav" class="nav nav-pills clearfix right" role="tablist">
    <li><a href="#">menuA</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuB</a></li>
    <li class="dropdown"><a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">menuC</a>
        <ul id="products-menu" class="dropdown-menu clearfix" role="menu">
            <li><a href="">A</a></li>
            <li><a href="">B</a></li>
            <li><a href="">C</a></li>
            <li><a href="">D</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">menuD</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuE</a></li>
</ul>

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2
  • 1
    your question is not clear Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 2:07
  • Does this answer your question? Bootstrap Dropdown with Hover Commented Jul 28, 2021 at 6:59

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
21

With this simple CSS.

/* shows nested menus when hovering a dropdown */
.dropdown:hover .dropdown-menu {
  display: block;
}

/* allows hovering between the top nav item and the nested menu */
/* more solutions for this in the comments below */
.dropdown-menu {
  margin-top: 0;
}

.dropdown {
  padding-bottom: 2px;
}

<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<ul id="nav" class="nav nav-pills clearfix right" role="tablist">
    <li><a href="#">menuA</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuB</a></li>
    <li class="dropdown"><a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">menuC</a>
        <ul id="products-menu" class="dropdown-menu clearfix" role="menu">
            <li><a href="">A</a></li>
            <li><a href="">B</a></li>
            <li><a href="">C</a></li>
            <li><a href="">D</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">menuD</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuE</a></li>
</ul>
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5 Comments

first level owrked but not wokring on second level
Love the simplicity (+1)
Nice but sometimes the submenu disappears before you manage to reach the sublinks with the mouse.
@DrLightman sorry for the epic delay! There is a top margin of 2px on the nested submenu that creates a gap between the top level nav item and the submenu - if you hover in that gap, the submenu disappears. You could fix that a number of ways with a little bit of custom CSS. 1) Change the top margin on the submenu to a bottom padding on the container for the link in the top nav menu. .dropdown-menu { margin-top: 0; } .dropdown { padding-bottom: 2px; }. 2) Just remove the gap, assuming you're OK with the way it looks. .dropdown-menu { margin-top: 0; } (cont below)
Cover the gap with an absolutely positioned pseudo element from the top level nav item .dropdown::after { height: 2px; position: absolute; content: ""; top: 100%; left: 0; right: 0; }
2

Use this script, since you are using jquery for bootstrap anyway. Also give additional classes (preferably ids) to jquery selector so it doesn't affect other dropdowns in your page .

$(function(){
  $("#nav .dropdown").hover(
    function() {
      $('#products-menu.dropdown-menu', this).stop( true, true ).fadeIn("fast");
      $(this).toggleClass('open');
    },
    function() {
      $('#products-menu.dropdown-menu', this).stop( true, true ).fadeOut("fast");
      $(this).toggleClass('open');
    });
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<ul id="nav" class="nav nav-pills clearfix right" role="tablist">
    <li><a href="#">menuA</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuB</a></li>
    <li class="dropdown"><a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">menuC</a>
        <ul id="products-menu" class="dropdown-menu clearfix" role="menu">
            <li><a href="">A</a></li>
            <li><a href="">B</a></li>
            <li><a href="">C</a></li>
            <li><a href="">D</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">menuD</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuE</a></li>
</ul>

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Comments

2

Above solutions are not mobile friendly so here is the solution I am proposing

Detect if its not touch device and that the navbar-toggle (hamburger menu) is not visible and make the menu item hoverable

Also made tne margin-top 0 because the gap between the navbar and the menu in some browser will not let you hover to the subitems

As a bonus you can make the menu parent link clickable by uncommenting the commented line

$(function(){
    function is_touch_device() {
        return 'ontouchstart' in window        // works on most browsers 
        || navigator.maxTouchPoints;       // works on IE10/11 and Surface
    };

    if(!is_touch_device() && $('.navbar-toggle:hidden')){
      $('.dropdown-menu', this).css('margin-top',0);
      $('.dropdown').hover(function(){ 
          $('.dropdown-toggle', this).trigger('click');
          //uncomment below to make the parent item clickable
          //$('.dropdown-toggle', this).toggleClass("disabled"); 
      });			
    }
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<ul id="nav" class="nav nav-pills clearfix right" role="tablist">
    <li><a href="#">menuA</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuB</a></li>
    <li class="dropdown"><a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">menuC</a>
        <ul id="products-menu" class="dropdown-menu clearfix" role="menu">
            <li><a href="">A</a></li>
            <li><a href="">B</a></li>
            <li><a href="">C</a></li>
            <li><a href="">D</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">menuD</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuE</a></li>
</ul>

$(function(){
  $("#nav .dropdown").hover(
    function() {
      $('#products-menu.dropdown-menu', this).stop( true, true ).fadeIn("fast");
      $(this).toggleClass('open');
    },
    function() {
      $('#products-menu.dropdown-menu', this).stop( true, true ).fadeOut("fast");
      $(this).toggleClass('open');
    });
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<ul id="nav" class="nav nav-pills clearfix right" role="tablist">
    <li><a href="#">menuA</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuB</a></li>
    <li class="dropdown"><a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">menuC</a>
        <ul id="products-menu" class="dropdown-menu clearfix" role="menu">
            <li><a href="">A</a></li>
            <li><a href="">B</a></li>
            <li><a href="">C</a></li>
            <li><a href="">D</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">menuD</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">menuE</a></li>
</ul>

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