Building a Responsive Navbar from Scratch

Introduction

Navigation bars (navbars) play a critical role in website usability. A responsive navbar ensures your menu adapts gracefully for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices, maximizing accessibility and user experience. In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a modern responsive navbar from scratch using only HTML and CSS.

Why a Responsive Navbar Matters

• Mobile-first: Most web traffic is mobile. Navigation must work well on small screens.
• Usability: Organizes links, helps visitors find content easily.
• SEO: Well-structured HTML improves crawlability.

Step 1: Basic HTML Structure

<nav class="navbar">
  <div class="brand">fulldev.pl</div>
  <button class="toggle" aria-label="Toggle menu">☰</button>
  <ul class="nav-links">
    <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Blog</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Projects</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Contact</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>

Step 2: Styling the Navbar

Start by creating the desktop layout. We’ll hide the toggle button by default and arrange items horizontally.

.navbar {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: space-between;
  background: #24292f;
  color: #fff;
  padding: 0.8rem 1.5rem;
}
.brand {
  font-weight: bold;
  font-size: 1.2rem;
}
.nav-links {
  display: flex;
  list-style: none;
  gap: 1.2rem;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}
.nav-links a {
  color: #fff;
  text-decoration: none;
  transition: color 0.2s;
}
.nav-links a:hover {
  color: #ffa000;
}
.toggle {
  display: none;
  background: none;
  border: none;
  color: #fff;
  font-size: 2rem;
  cursor: pointer;
}

Step 3: Make It Responsive

On small screens, we’ll stack links vertically and show the menu toggle button.

@media (max-width: 800px) {
  .nav-links {
    display: none;
    position: absolute;
    top: 60px;
    right: 0;
    left: 0;
    background: #24292f;
    flex-direction: column;
    text-align: center;
    gap: 0;
  }
  .nav-links.open {
    display: flex;
  }
  .toggle {
    display: block;
  }
  .navbar {
    position: relative;
  }
}

Step 4: Toggle Button Functionality (CSS-Only Version)

If you want to create a toggle with pure CSS, you need a checkbox hack. For production use, you may prefer JavaScript for accessibility, but here’s a common CSS approach:

<input type="checkbox" id="menu-toggle" style="display:none;" />
<label for="menu-toggle" class="toggle" aria-label="Toggle menu">☰</label>
<ul class="nav-links"> ... </ul>

#menu-toggle:checked ~ .nav-links {
  display: flex;
}

Step 5: JavaScript Toggle (Recommended for Accessibility)

Here’s a simple script to toggle the menu. This ensures keyboard and accessibility support:

const toggleBtn = document.querySelector('.toggle');
const navLinks = document.querySelector('.nav-links');

toggleBtn.addEventListener('click', () => {
  navLinks.classList.toggle('open');
});

Final Thoughts

• Always test your navbar on multiple screen sizes and major browsers.
• Ensure good color contrast and keyboard navigation for accessibility.
• Enhance with animations or transitions for a polished effect.

With this approach, you can customize and expand your navbar to fit any project on fulldev.pl!