Hover Drop Down Menu won't show hidden items when hovered over

Question

I'm working on a personal project to increase my knowledge of HTML and CSS. I am working on creating a drop down menu for hyper links. I have the links styled, but the drop down lists don't appear when I hover over the selections.

-I am using links from a class I am taking in school because I have access to the server that they are hosted on and I don't have a server of my own.

This first section is the HTML for my lists.

<nav>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/index.html">Home Page</a>      </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 1 Links</a></li>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l1p4.html">Lab 1, Part 4</a></li>
            </ul>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 2 Links</a></li>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p1.html">Lab 2, Part 1</a></li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p2.html">Lab 2, Part 2</a></li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p3.html">Lab 2, Part 3</a></li>
            </ul>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 3 Links</a></li>
    </ul>
</nav>

This second section is the css for styling and hover actions.

nav ul 
{
    background: #efefef; 
    background: linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%, #bbbbbb 100%);  
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%, #bbbbbb 100%); 
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%,#bbbbbb 100%); 
    box-shadow: 0px 0px 9px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);
    padding: 0 6px;
    border-radius: 5px;  
    list-style: none;
    position: relative;
    display: inline-table;
}
nav ul:after 
{
    content: ""; clear: both; display: block;
}
nav ul li 
{
    float: left;
}
nav ul li:hover 
{
    background: #4b545f;
    background: linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%, #5f6975 40%);
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%, #5f6975 40%);
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%,#5f6975 40%);
}
nav ul li:hover a 
{
    color: #fff;
}
nav ul li a 
{
    display: block; padding: 10px 20px;
    color: #757575; text-decoration: none;
}
nav ul ul 
{
    background: #5f6975; border-radius: 0px; padding: 0;
    position: absolute; top: 100%;
    display: none;
}
nav ul ul li 
{
    float: none; 
    border-top: 1px solid #6b727c;
    border-bottom: 1px solid #575f6a;
    position: relative;
}
nav ul ul li a 
{
    padding: 6px 20px;
    color: #fff;
}
nav ul ul li a:hover 
{
    background: #4b545f;
}
nav ul li:hover > ul 
{
    display: block;
}
nav ul ul ul 
{
    position: absolute; left: 100%; top:0;
}

Can anyone help me pick out why the drop downs for Lab 1 Links and Lab 2 Links aren't appearing when I hover over them?

Answer 1

correct your html like this

<nav>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/index.html">Home Page</a> 
        </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 1 Links</a>

            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l1p4.html">Lab 1, Part 4</a>

                </li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 2 Links</a>

            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p1.html">Lab 2, Part 1</a>

                </li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p2.html">Lab 2, Part 2</a>

                </li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p3.html">Lab 2, Part 3</a>

                </li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 3 Links</a>

        </li>
    </ul>
</nav>

Working fiddle example http://jsfiddle.net/HB7Um/

Answer 2

Your HTML is invalid. You must put the submenu ul inside the parent li. You are closing the parent li too soon.

Try

<nav>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/index.html">Home Page</a>      </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 1 Links</a>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l1p4.html">Lab 1, Part 4</a></li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        <li><a href="#">Lab 2 Links</a>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p1.html">Lab 2, Part 1</a></li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p2.html">Lab 2, Part 2</a></li>
                <li><a href="http://webdev.spsu.edu/~cmilam/public/l2p3.html">Lab 2, Part 3</a></li>
            </ul>
         </li>
         <li><a href="#">Lab 3 Links</a></li>
 </nav>