Drop

A small CSS component that turns browser-native <details> elements into dropdown menus.

View the demo on CodePen →

Interested in doing more with browser-native methods and APIs? Check out my Vanilla JS Pocket Guides or join the Vanilla JS Academy and level-up as a web developer. 🚀

Getting Started

Compiled and production-ready code can be found in the dist directory. The src directory contains development code.

1. Include Drop on your site.

In addition to a small CSS file, you should include a <details> element polyfill to add support to IE and Edge.

Direct Download

You can download the files directly from GitHub.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://github.com/cferdinandi/drop/blob/master/path/to/drop.min.css">
<script src="https://github.com/cferdinandi/drop/raw/master/path/to/details-element-polyfill.js"></script>

CDN

You can also use the jsDelivr CDN. I recommend linking to a specific version number or version range to prevent major updates from breaking your site. Smooth Scroll uses semantic versioning.

<!-- Always get the latest version -->
<!-- Not recommended for production sites! -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/drop/dist/drop.min.css">

<!-- Get minor updates and patch fixes within a major version -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/drop@12/dist/drop.min.css">

<!-- Get patch fixes within a minor version -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/drop@12.0/dist/drop.min.css">

<!-- Get a specific version -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/drop@12.0.0/dist/drop.min.css">

And here's a CDN for the polyfill.

NPM

You can also use NPM (or your favorite package manager).

npm install dropjs

2. Add the markup to your HTML.

Create a standard <details> element, and add the .dropdown class. It can stand on its own, or be wrapped in a list item (<li>) as part of a bigger navigation menu.

The text inside the <summary> element is what toggles the dropdown. Add an unordered list (<ul>) with your dropdown items.

<details class="dropdown">
    <summary>This has dropdown items</summary>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="#hi">Hi</a></li>
        <li><a href="#universe">Universe</a></li>
    </ul>
</details>

If the dropdown is in a navigation and will appear close to the right side of the viewport where it's content might get clipped, add the dropdown-right class to shift it's positioning.

<details class="dropdown dropdown-right">
    <summary>This has dropdown items, too</summary>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="#hermoine">Hermione</a></li>
        <li><a href="#harry">Harry Potter</a></li>
    </ul>
</details>

And that's it, you're done. Nice work!

Explore a demo on CodePen →

Dropdown Groups

By default, the behavior of one dropdown menu does not affect the other.

If you want all other dropdown menus in a group to close when one is opened, add the included drop.js script.

<!-- Direct Download -->
<script src="https://github.com/cferdinandi/drop/raw/master/path/to/drop.min.js"></script>

<!-- CDN -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/drop@12/dist/js/drop.min.js"></script>

Then, instantiate it by passing in the parent element for your dropdown group (or a selector). If you changed the class for your dropdown menus, pass that in as a second argument.

var dropdownGroup = new Drop('#my-nav');

// Using a different class
var otherDropdownGroup = new Drop('#another-nav', '.dropdown-alt');

Explore dropdown groups on CodePen →

Canceling a dropdown group

You can cancel this functionality with the destroy() method.

dropdownGroup.destroy();

Customizing

Drop includes very minimal styling. You're encouraged to add your own styles to match your theme and layout, including changing the color of the text and dropdown menu links.

What's new?

Drop 12 completely ditches the old JavaScript plugin and markup in favor of the browser-native <details> element. You'll need to recreate your markup using the new pattern.

Browser Compatibility

Drop has the same support as the <details> element. That means that it works in all modern browsers, but not IE or Edge. In unsupported, the content will always be expanded.

Polyfill

You can add Edge and IE support with the lightweight <details> element polyfill. Once Edge migrates to Blink, it will support the element natively.

License

The code is available under the MIT License.

cferdinandi / drop

readme