How can I force a list item to display on one line with CSS?

html css html-lists

13,597

Solution 1

The initial issue was that the list items were wrapping around in a menu that should ideally keep the full name on a single line. The first proposed solution is to apply white-space:nowrap, but in this particular instance, the original poster had a menu that would cut off overflow (using overflow:hidden). To overcome this, it was much simpler to just change the width of the embed container list (a simple ul element). A width of 150px was originally set presumably to ensure that the menu looks uniform for submenu items with items that have short names. This same effect can be achieved without losing the wide of extra wide lists by setting (or leaving) the width at auto and giving it a min-width: 100%;. This works because the submenus are relative to the parent li items. 100% will be the same width as the parent li.

TL;DR: In summary, removing the width and adding a min-width of 100% solved the issue for the OP.

Code with the changes below:

html {
  font-family:'Segoe UI Light', 'Bookman Old Style', Calibri, Candara, serif;
}
header {
  background: #d2edf4;
  background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #d0edf5, #e1e5f0 100%);
  padding: 20px 15px 15px 15px;
  position: relative;
}
/*body {
  font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Bookman Antigua', Palatino, serif;
  background-color: lightyellow;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;

  font-size: 14px;

  width:80%;
  margin-left:auto;
  margin-right:auto;
  padding: 10px 50px 200px;
}*/
body {
  height: 100%;
  min-height: 100%;
  width: 80%;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 50px 48px 0;
  line-height: 1;
  color: #333;
  background: #FFF;
  font-family: ff-tis-web-pro, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Bookman Antigua', Palatino, Georgia, serif;
  -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
}
nav {
    background-color: forestgreen;
}
form {
    background-color: lightyellow;
}
h1 {
  color: navy;
  font-family: "Segoe UI", serif;
  font-size: 2.5em;
  margin: 0;
  margin-bottom: 10px;
  display: inline-block;
  margin-right: 1em;
}
h2 {
  font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', Verdana, sans-serif;
}
input:focus {
  background-color: lightyellow;
}
input:hover {
  background-color: azure;
}
table {
  width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  background-color: azure;
  /*min-height: 100%;*/
  margin-top: 80px;
}
table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid navy;
    border-collapse: collapse;
}
th, td {
    padding: 5px;
    /*text-align: left;*/
}
input[type="text"] {
  margin-bottom: 4px;
}
input[type="submit"] {
  margin-top: 8px;
}
input[type="time"] {
  margin: 3px;
}
p {
  font-size: 14px;
}

[class*='col-'] {
    float: left;
    margin: 4px;
}
.grid {
  background: white;
}
.module {
  background: lightyellow;
}
.col-All {
    width: 90%;
}
.col-2-3 {
    width: 60%;
}
.col-1-3 {
    width: 30%;
}
.col-1-2 {
    width: 45%;
}
.col-1-4 {
    width: 22.5%;
}

/* for aligning input texts that follow labels on forms and such; can create other sizes too (label120,etc.) */
.label88 {
    width: 88px;
    display: inline-block;
}
.label144 {
    width: 144px;
    display: inline-block;
}
.joblocoptionallabel {
  width: 124px;
  display: inline-block;
}
/*.inlineblock {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}*/
li {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
.hide {
  visibility: hidden;
  display: none;
}
.smallcaps {
    font-variant: small-caps;
}
.container {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  background: lightyellow;
}
.dateLabel {
  font-size: 16px;
  font-family: Candara, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;
  color: forestgreen;
}
.shiftLabel {
  font-size: 13px;
  font-family: Calibri, serif;
  color: red;
}
.jobLoc {
  margin-right: 16px;
  width: 115px;
}
.jobLocCount {
  width: 40px;
}
.trabajar {
  width: 159px;
  margin-right: 16px;
  margin-top: 4px;
}
.shortTextInput {
    width: 64px;
}
.floatleft {
    float: left;
    display: block;
}
/* Menu-specific styles/rules, adapted from  */
.third-level-menu {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: -150px;
    width: 150px;
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    display: none;
}
.third-level-menu > li {
    height: 30px;
    background: gray;
}
.third-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: white;
}
.second-level-menu {
    position: absolute;
    top: 30px;
    left: 0;
    /*width: 150px;*/
    min-width: 100%;
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    display: none;
}
.second-level-menu > li {
    position: relative;
    height: 30px;
    background: orange;
    color: white;
}
.second-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: green;
}
.top-level-menu {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin-bottom: 12px;
    width: 100%;
    display:block;
    /*border: 1px; <= not working*/
}
.top-level-menu > li {
    position: relative;
    float: left;
    height: 30px;
    width: 150px;
    background: moccasin;
}
.top-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: lightgray;
}
.top-level-menu li:hover > ul {
    /* On hover, display the next level's menu */
    display: inline;
}
/* End of Menu-specific Styles */

<div class="grid">
    <div class="col-All">
      <nav>
        <ul class="top-level-menu">
          <li>Schedules
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniOpenExisting" name="mniOpenExisting">Open Existing</li>
              <li>Create New...
                <ul class="third-level-menu">
                  <li id="mniCreateNewScheduleBasedOnExisting" name="mniCreateNewScheduleBasedOnExisting">Based on Existing</li>
                  <li id="mniCreateNewScheduleFromScratch" name="mniCreateNewScheduleFromScratch">From Scratch</li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li id="mniSaveCurrentSchedule" name="mniSaveCurrentSchedule">Save Current</li>
              <li id="mniEmailCurrentSchedule" name="mniEmailCurrentSchedule">Email Current</li>
              <li id="mniPrintCurrentSchedule" name="mniPrintCurrentSchedule">Print Current</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Jobs/Locations
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewJobLoc" name="mniAddNewJobLoc">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditJobLoc" name="mniViewOrEditJobLoc">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Shifts
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewShift" name="mniAddNewShift">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditShift" name="mniViewOrEditShift">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Workers
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewWorker" name="mniAddNewWorker">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditWorker" name="mniViewOrEditWorker">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="inlineblock">Match
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
              <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Rules
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniSetRules" name="mniSetRules">Establish/Maintain</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Help
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAbout" name="mniAbout">About</li>
              <li id="mniHowTo" name="mniHowTo">How To...</li>
              <li id="mniContact" name="mniContact">Contact Us</li>
              <li id="mniAcquireLicense" name="mniAcquireLicense">Acquire License</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
    </div>
  </div>

Solution 2

Use 'white-space: nowrap;' in your Css.

.inlineblock {
    white-space: nowrap;
}

I would suggest not getting into a habit of using class names like that here in the future bc it could lead to confusion. Names like "foo" and "bar" always work.

Solution 3

you just need to give them both the class,

 <li>Match
    <ul class="second-level-menu">
      <li class="inlineblock" id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
      <li class="inlineblock" id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
    </ul>
  </li>

Solution 4

This way stops you needing to always add the class and will convert all li's in the list to inline.

HTML

<li class="inlineblock">Match
    <ul class="second-level-menu">
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
    </ul>
  </li>

CSS

li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}

Code Example

If you want Matdch to be on the same line then.

CSS

li.inlineblock,li.inlineblock ul,li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}

Code Example

Solution 5

I suggest put your text elements inside of a block element such as anchor,paragraph,label etc... tags, otherwise you can use the css for non-breaking lines:

li
{
   white-space:nowrap
}

View more solutions

13,597

Author by

B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven

My novel about climate change and social justice featuring talking animals traveling through time and space to prevent disasters is now available on amazon, in three formats: Taterskin & The Eco Defenders Kindle eBook; Taterskin & The Eco Defenders Paperback; Taterskin & The Eco Defenders Hardcover Taterskin & The Eco Defenders, told in “first canine” by the titular character, a Labrador Retriever, is the story of a few humans and several talking animals who travel through time and space to make the past—and thus the future—a better place. The improvements effected by the Eco Defenders benefit not just the earth itself, but also mistreated humans and animals. In Book 1 (“Wonders Never Cease”), The Eco Defenders travel 150 million years into the past, to meet a Pterodactyl and make plans to “nip Nazism in the bud.” After that, it's on to 1787 Australia to protect the indigenous people and the environment there. The Eco Defenders next go to India, where they assemble animals from all over that country to put an end to Thuggee and fights to the death between Cobras and Mongooses. Their final stop is 1885 Africa, where the Eco Defenders band together with the local animals to prevent King Leopold of Belgium from taking control of the Congo, following which they put an end to the poaching of animals throughout the continent. Book 2 (“Tell it to Future Generations”) takes up with the Eco Defenders following up on their earlier adventures by 1) Preventing the American Civil War in 1861, after which a slave they free joins them; 2) Saving the Indians from being massacred at Wounded Knee in 1890, following which Chapawee, a Sioux Indian, joins the Eco Defenders; 3) Putting an end to the practice of vivisection (experimentation on live animals) in 1903; 4) Coming to the aid of exploited workers in 1911 Manhattan, saving hundreds from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire; and 5) Traveling to the Amazon Basin in 1978 to protect and preserve the Amazon rainforest. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I have lived in eight states; besides my native California (where I was born and where I now again reside), in chronological order I have infested: New York (Brooklyn), Montana (Helena), Alaska (Anchorage), Oklahoma (Bethany), Wisconsin (New Berlin and Oconomowoc), Idaho (Coeur d'Alene), and Missouri (Piedmont). I am a writer of both fiction (for which I use the nom de guerre "Blackbird Crow Raven", as a nod to my Native American heritage - I am "½ Cowboy, ½ Indian") and nonfiction, including a two-volume social and cultural history of the U.S. which covers important events from 1620-2006 and can be downloaded gratis here.

Updated on June 05, 2022

Comments

B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven almost 2 years

I'm using list items as "fake menu items" like so:

 <li>Match
    <ul class="second-level-menu">
      <li class="inlineblock" id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
    </ul>
  </li>

The problem is that the longer sub-menu items, such as "Workers with Jobs/Locations" are breaking over two lines; I want them to stay on one line.

I pseudo-cleverly thought it would be enough to simply assign the li this class:

.inlineblock {
  display: inline-block;
}

...but it doesn't cut the mustard. What am I missing or misthinking?

UPDATE

Based on the answers, I now have this CSS:

.inlineblock {
  display: inline-block;
}
li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}

...and this HTML:

  <li class="inlineblock">Match
    <ul class="second-level-menu">
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
    </ul>
  </li>

...but I still see this:

Here is the entire HTML for the fake menus:

<template name="mnuScheduler">
  <div class="grid">
    <div class="col-All">
      <nav>
        <ul class="top-level-menu">
          <li>Schedules
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniOpenExisting" name="mniOpenExisting">Open Existing</li>
              <li>Create New...
                <ul class="third-level-menu">
                  <li id="mniCreateNewScheduleBasedOnExisting" name="mniCreateNewScheduleBasedOnExisting">Based on Existing</li>
                  <li id="mniCreateNewScheduleFromScratch" name="mniCreateNewScheduleFromScratch">From Scratch</li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li id="mniSaveCurrentSchedule" name="mniSaveCurrentSchedule">Save Current</li>
              <li id="mniEmailCurrentSchedule" name="mniEmailCurrentSchedule">Email Current</li>
              <li id="mniPrintCurrentSchedule" name="mniPrintCurrentSchedule">Print Current</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Jobs/Locations
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewJobLoc" name="mniAddNewJobLoc">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditJobLoc" name="mniViewOrEditJobLoc">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Shifts
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewShift" name="mniAddNewShift">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditShift" name="mniViewOrEditShift">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Workers
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAddNewWorker" name="mniAddNewWorker">Add New</li>
              <li id="mniViewOrEditWorker" name="mniViewOrEditWorker">View or Edit</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="inlineblock">Match
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
              <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Rules
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniSetRules" name="mniSetRules">Establish/Maintain</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li>Help
            <ul class="second-level-menu">
              <li id="mniAbout" name="mniAbout">About</li>
              <li id="mniHowTo" name="mniHowTo">How To...</li>
              <li id="mniContact" name="mniContact">Contact Us</li>
              <li id="mniAcquireLicense" name="mniAcquireLicense">Acquire License</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

UPDATE 2

This:

CSS:
.inlineblock {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}

HTML:

  <li class="inlineblock">Match
    <ul class="second-level-menu">
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs" name="mniMatchWorkersWithJobLocs">Workers with Jobs/Locations</li>
      <li id="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts" name="mniMatchWorkersWithShifts">Workers with Shifts</li>
    </ul>
  </li>

...caused both submenu items to appear on the same line (one step forward, two steps back)

This:

/*.inlineblock {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}*/
li {
  white-space: nowrap;
}

...does put the two menu items on their own separate line, but the first one is "cut off" (it reads "Workers with Jobs/Lo")

UPDATE 3

In response to Joseph Marikle's request, here is all the CSS:

html {
  font-family:'Segoe UI Light', 'Bookman Old Style', Calibri, Candara, serif;
}
header {
  background: #d2edf4;
  background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #d0edf5, #e1e5f0 100%);
  padding: 20px 15px 15px 15px;
  position: relative;
}
/*body {
  font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Bookman Antigua', Palatino, serif;
  background-color: lightyellow;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;

  font-size: 14px;

  width:80%;
  margin-left:auto;
  margin-right:auto;
  padding: 10px 50px 200px;
}*/
body {
  height: 100%;
  min-height: 100%;
  width: 80%;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 50px 48px 0;
  line-height: 1;
  color: #333;
  background: #FFF;
  font-family: ff-tis-web-pro, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Bookman Antigua', Palatino, Georgia, serif;
  -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
}
nav {
    background-color: forestgreen;
}
form {
    background-color: lightyellow;
}
h1 {
  color: navy;
  font-family: "Segoe UI", serif;
  font-size: 2.5em;
  margin: 0;
  margin-bottom: 10px;
  display: inline-block;
  margin-right: 1em;
}
h2 {
  font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', Verdana, sans-serif;
}
input:focus {
  background-color: lightyellow;
}
input:hover {
  background-color: azure;
}
table {
  width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  background-color: azure;
  /*min-height: 100%;*/
  margin-top: 80px;
}
table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid navy;
    border-collapse: collapse;
}
th, td {
    padding: 5px;
    /*text-align: left;*/
}
input[type="text"] {
  margin-bottom: 4px;
}
input[type="submit"] {
  margin-top: 8px;
}
input[type="time"] {
  margin: 3px;
}
p {
  font-size: 14px;
}

[class*='col-'] {
    float: left;
    margin: 4px;
}
.grid {
  background: white;
}
.module {
  background: lightyellow;
}
.col-All {
    width: 90%;
}
.col-2-3 {
    width: 60%;
}
.col-1-3 {
    width: 30%;
}
.col-1-2 {
    width: 45%;
}
.col-1-4 {
    width: 22.5%;
}

/* for aligning input texts that follow labels on forms and such; can create other sizes too (label120,etc.) */
.label88 {
    width: 88px;
    display: inline-block;
}
.label144 {
    width: 144px;
    display: inline-block;
}
.joblocoptionallabel {
  width: 124px;
  display: inline-block;
}
/*.inlineblock {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
li.inlineblock ul li{
  display: inline-block;
}*/
li {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
.hide {
  visibility: hidden;
  display: none;
}
.smallcaps {
    font-variant: small-caps;
}
.container {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  background: lightyellow;
}
.dateLabel {
  font-size: 16px;
  font-family: Candara, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;
  color: forestgreen;
}
.shiftLabel {
  font-size: 13px;
  font-family: Calibri, serif;
  color: red;
}
.jobLoc {
  margin-right: 16px;
  width: 115px;
}
.jobLocCount {
  width: 40px;
}
.trabajar {
  width: 159px;
  margin-right: 16px;
  margin-top: 4px;
}
.shortTextInput {
    width: 64px;
}
.floatleft {
    float: left;
    display: block;
}
/* Menu-specific styles/rules, adapted from  */
.third-level-menu {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: -150px;
    width: 150px;
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    display: none;
}
.third-level-menu > li {
    height: 30px;
    background: gray;
}
.third-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: white;
}
.second-level-menu {
    position: absolute;
    top: 30px;
    left: 0;
    width: 150px;
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    display: none;
}
.second-level-menu > li {
    position: relative;
    height: 30px;
    background: orange;
    color: white;
}
.second-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: green;
}
.top-level-menu {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin-bottom: 12px;
    width: 100%;
    display:block;
    /*border: 1px; <= not working*/
}
.top-level-menu > li {
    position: relative;
    float: left;
    height: 30px;
    width: 150px;
    background: moccasin;
}
.top-level-menu > li:hover {
    background: lightgray;
}
.top-level-menu li:hover > ul {
    /* On hover, display the next level's menu */
    display: inline;
}
/* End of Menu-specific Styles */