HTML tab interface using only CSS

Question

is it possible to create a tabbed interface using just css, no javascript? I mean to be able to switch the tabs using css/html, without javascript. Maybe with CSS 3.0?

the markup would be something like:

<ul>
 <li><a href="#tab1">tab 1</a></li>
 <li><a href="#tab2">tab 2</a></li>
 <li><a href="#tab3">tab 3</a></li>
</ul>

<div id="tab1"> ...1... </div>
<div id="tab2"> ...2... </div>
<div id="tab3"> ...3... </div>

Solution 1

It is possible with html and css for most modern browsers using the border-radius property (not supported by internet explorer 8 and below).

css

li {-moz-border-radius: 12px 12px 0 0; /* FF1+ */
  -webkit-border-radius: 12px 12px 0 0; /* Saf3-4 */
    border-radius: 12px 12px 0 0; /* Opera 10.5, IE9, Saf5, Chrome */
    border:1px solid black;
    display:inline;
    list-style-type:none;
    padding:5px;
  }
  li:hover {background:black;}
  li a {text-decoration:none; color:black;}
  li a:hover {color:white;}

html

<ul>
 <li><a href="#tab1">tab 1</a></li>
 <li><a href="#tab2">tab 2</a></li>
 <li><a href="#tab3">tab 3</a></li>
</ul>

To support internet explorer you can use css3pie but you have to keep in mind that it uses javascript.

You can find more information about border-radius at: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-background/#the-border-radius

Example: http://jsbin.com/idiza5/2

Solution 2

:target is generally the preferred way of doing tabs.

You can also be clever with input:radio, or input:checkbox elements.

http://jsfiddle.net/nzYnc/

HTML:

<label for="one">One</label>
<label for="two">Two</label>
<label for="three">Three</label>

<input type="radio" id="one" name="tab" checked="checked" />
<div>
    First content
</div>
<input type="radio" id="two" name="tab" />
<div>
    Second content
</div>
<input type="radio" id="three" name="tab" />
<div>
    Third content
</div>

CSS:

input
{
    position: absolute;
    right: 100%;
}

input:checked + div
{
    display: block;
}
div
{
    display: none;
}

Using the next-sibling (+) and :checked selectors in clever ways can allow you to do a pure CSS accordion, toggleable lists, or tabs like this.

Solution 3

In pure CSS3 you can use the :target selector to achieve a "tabbed interface".
Just google "tab css3 :target". Here's a tutorial about it.

Comments

[gotofritz]

I don't understand how this became the accepted answer, since it is the only one that doesn't actually answer the question... O_o