CSS Tabs based menu systems are really improving instead of all the classic button based navigation. This small tutorial will help you create a image based liquid tab using CSS and xHTML.

Yes… there are lot other ways getting this done… but for those who are new, this could sure help.

We just tried representing this whole process in a 3D view… not sure if we have messed it up but sure you will understand as you go on below (don’t forget the DEMO).

We are just adding a SPAN tag into the standard xHTML based navigation + a few CSS Attributes to them.

The CSS:

ul li{

float:left;
padding:0 5px;
list-style:none;

}

ul li a{

background:url(/* LEFT IMAGE */) no-repeat left top;
height:45px;
display:block;
float:left;
padding-left:20px;
text-decoration:none;
color:#000;

}

ul li a span{

background:url(/* RIGHT IMAGE */) no-repeat right top;
display:block;
padding:15px 20px 0 0;
display:block;
height:30px;
float:left;

}

Hope you understood the concept behind this… If still NO, take a look at the Live Demo below:

Demo

Don’t forget to take a look at the Source Code of the Demo too… (Right-Click and View Source)