Hover over one list element, affect a div Only CSS

Question

Ok so i have a list of elements and once I hover over one of them, I want the content of a "text box div" to change accordingly. I've looked online over and over and none of the results helped

  <div class="parent">
    <div class="tohover" id="m1"><a href=#>Home</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m2"><a href=#>Mail</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m3"><a href=#>Sports</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m4"><a href=#>Movies</a></div>
    <div class="centermenu">
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin vel molestie nulla, eu tincidunt purus. Phasellus eget ligula orci. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Quisque mollis varius ex et</p>
    </div></div>

And the css part would be something like:

.centermenu {
  background-color: #F9F9F9;
  position: relative;
  float: left;
  width: 1000px;
  margin-top: 70px;
  margin-left: 40px;
  border: 1px solid #606060;
  height: auto;
  color: black;
  word-wrap: break-word; 
}

p {
  padding: 5px;
  text-indent: 10px;
}

.tohover > a {
  color: black;
}

#m1:hover ~ .centermenu {
  background-color: red;
}

But it is not working. It's not doing anything. Any ideas why? This ~ worked with images but now it doesn't anymore.

I'm thinking about using the ::before ::after but they don't replace the text... which I want

Answer 1

How about this solution. your best choice though is jQuery/javascript.
https://jsfiddle.net/vp02x56o/7/

HTML

<div class="parent">
    <div class="tohover" id="m1"><a href=#>Home</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m2"><a href=#>Mail</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m3"><a href=#>Sports</a></div>
    <div class="tohover" id="m4"><a href=#>Movies</a></div>
    <div class="centermenu" id="c1">
        <p>1111111111</p>
    </div>
    <div class="centermenu" id="c2">
        <p>222222222222222</p>
    </div>
    <div class="centermenu" id="c3">
        <p>3333333333</p>
    </div>
    <div class="centermenu" id="c4">
        <p>4444444444444444</p>
    </div>
</div>  

CSS:

    .centermenu {
      display:none;
      background-color: #F9F9F9;
      position: relative;
      float: left;
      width: 1000px;
      margin-top: 70px;
      margin-left: 40px;
      border: 1px solid #606060;
      height: auto;
      color: black;
      word-wrap: break-word; 
    }

    p {
      padding: 5px;
      text-indent: 10px;
    }

    .tohover > a {
      color: black;
    }

    #c1.centermenu {
      display: block;
    }


    #m1:hover ~ #c1 {
      display: block;
    }


    #m2:hover ~ #c2 {
      display: block;
    }
    #m2:hover ~ #c1 {
      display: none;
    }


    #m3:hover ~ #c3 {
      display: block;
    }
    #m3:hover ~ #c1 {
      display: none;
    }


    #m4:hover ~ #c4 {
      display: block;
    }
    #m4:hover ~ #c1 {
      display: none;
    }

Answer 2

Only with CSS you can't reach that. Only if move ".centrermenu" div inside <ul> . But it is really easy to do with javascript or Jquery for example

Answer 3

As mentioned jQuery is your best bet but you could do something like this although I wouldn't recommend it,

https://jsfiddle.net/eor0gmsg/

.centermenu {
  background-color: #F9F9F9;
  position: relative;
  float: left;
  width: 1000px;
  margin-top: 70px;
  margin-left: 40px;
  border: 1px solid #606060;
  height: auto;
  color: black;
  word-wrap: break-word; 
}

p {
  padding: 5px;
  text-indent: 10px;
}

.tohover > a {
  color: black;
}

#m1:hover ~ .centermenu:before  {
  background-color: red;
   content: "Lorem ipsum";

}

#m1:hover ~ .centermenu{
  color:white;
}