CSS drop down <ul> <li> menu different sizes of each level

Question

Hi I cannot figure out how to change the size of the child item of the CSS menu (The parent has an image background, the child should have a background color). I tried something like:

ul > li > a:hover {
    display:inline-block;
    background:#000;
    float:left;
    width:120px;
    height:25px;
}

but it is all mixed with other elements. Can you please help me figure it out?

HTML:

   <div id="menu">
   <ul>
    <li><a id="menu1" href="#">Parent1</a></li>

    <li><a href="#">Parent2</a>
        <ul>
            <li><a href="#">Child1</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Child2</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Child3</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#">Parent3</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Parent4</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Parent5</a></li>
   </ul>
   </div>

CSS:

#menu {
    position:absolute;
    top:133px;
    left:0px;
    width:900px;
    height:50px;
}
ul {
    font-family: Arial, Verdana;
    font-size: 14px;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    list-style: none;
}
ul li {
    display: block;
    float: left;
}
li ul {
    display: none;
}
ul li a {
    display: block;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #ffffff;
    /*padding: 5px 15px 5px 15px;*/
    background-image: url(../images/menu1.png);
    white-space: nowrap;
    width:178px;
    height:50px;
}
ul li a:hover { 
    background: #BBBBBB;
}
li:hover ul {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    left:0px;
}
li:hover li {
    float: left;
    font-size: 11px;
}
li:hover a { 
    background: #3b3b3b; 
}
li:hover li a:hover {
    background: #CCC;
}

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

Answer 1

To add a background color to your child sub menu:

ul li ul li {
    // rules
}

You can also add class to your list items to make it more manageable. For example, you can add a class to the ul of your child menu:

<li><a href="#">Parent2</a>
        <ul class="sub-menu">
            <li><a href="#">Child1</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Child2</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Child3</a></li>
        </ul>
    </li>

Then you can simplify the css to:

.sub-menu li {
    display:inline-block;
    background:#000;
    float:left;
    width:120px;
    height:25px;
}

Answer 2

Hope following changes will work for you. Here is the fiddle link . Followings are your css chagnes

#menu {
    /*position:absolute;
    top:0;
    left:0px;*/
    width:900px;
    height:22px;
    background-color:#000;
}
ul {
    font-family: Arial, Verdana;
    font-size: 14px;
    line-height:22px;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    list-style: none;
    text-align:center;
}
ul li {
    display: block;
    float: left;
    position:relative;
}
ul li a {
    display: block;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #ffffff;
    /*padding: 5px 15px 5px 15px;*/
    background-image: url(../images/menu1.png);
    white-space: nowrap;
    width:178px;
    line-height:22px;
}
ul li:hover a { 
    background: #BBBBBB;
}
ul li ul {
    display: none;
    widht:200px;
    position:absolute;
    left:0;
    top:22px;
}
ul li ul li {
    float: none;
    font-size: 11px;
}
ul li ul li a {
  background: #3b3b3b;
    background-image:none!important;
}
ul li ul li a:hover {
    background: #CCC;
}
ul li:hover ul {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    left:0px;
}

Answer 3

It is good to retain the same width so that you can avoid that weird movement.

Try this

ul li ul li a:hover {
    display:block;
    background:#000;
    float:left;
    width:178px;
    height:25px;
}

DEMO

Answer 4

I don't know how you want the result to look exactly but you could also use the + selector in your css like this:

ul > li > a:hover+ {
        display:inline-block;
        background:#000;
        float:left;
        width:120px;
        height:25px;
    }

The + selector as you see after a:hover means that the next element directly after the a:hover-tag will be selected and is this case it will be a ul

You can also specify the element with +ul if you want the ul to be a list and not a flat one like this:

ul > li > a:hover+ul {
        display:inline-block;
        background:#000;
        float:left;
        width:120px;
        height:25px;
    }

Like this you know that you will only affect the element next to the hovered one

Answer 5

Solution

ul > li:hover > li > a {
    display:inline-block;
    background:#000;
    float:left;
    width:120px;
    height:25px;

}

It can be as per requirement

ul > li:hover  li   a {  }