Fancy CSS navigation

Rough CSS reproduction of the navigation found at http://beta.rallyinteractive.com/

by jshacker

HTML

<nav class="nav">
    <h1>Fancy CSS navigation<h1>
    <a class="nav-item nav-prev" href="#non">
        <span class="icon">&lt;</span>
        <span class="text">About</span>
    </a>
    <a class="nav-item nav-next" href="#non">
        <span class="text">Contact</span>
        <span class="icon">&gt;</span>
    </a>
</nav>

CSS

body {
  margin: 0;
  background: #fff;
}

.nav {
  position: relative;
  width: 800px;
  padding: 0 60px;
  margin: 20px auto;
  text-align: center;
  font-family: arial, sans-serif;
}

.nav h1 {
  font-size: 36px;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 60px;
}

/* =============================================================================
   Nav items
   ========================================================================== */

.nav-item {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  width: 60px;
  text-decoration: none;
}

.nav-prev {
  left: 0;
  padding-left: 70px;
}

.nav-next {
  right: 0;
  padding-right: 70px;
}

/* =============================================================================
   Nav text
   ========================================================================== */

.nav-item .text {
  position: absolute;
  z-index: 1;
  font-size: 24px;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 60px;
  color: transparent;
  -webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
  -o-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
  transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
}

.nav-item:hover .text,
.nav-item:focus .text,
.nav-item:active .text {
  color: #222;
  -webkit-transition-delay: 0.2s;
  -moz-transition-delay: 0.2s;
  -o-transition-delay: 0.2s;
  transition-delay: 0.2s;
}

/*
 * Previous
 */

.nav-prev .text {
  left: 0;
}

.nav-prev:hover .text,
.nav-prev:focus .text,
.nav-prev:active .text {
  left: 70px;
}

/*
 * Next
 */

.nav-next .text {
  right: 0;
}

.nav-next:hover .text,
.nav-next:focus .text,
.nav-next:active .text {
  right: 70px;
}

/* =============================================================================
   Nav icons
   ========================================================================== */

.nav-item .icon {
  position: absolute;
  z-index: 2;
  top: 0;
  display: block;
  overflow: hidden;
  text-indent: -999em;
 ...

JavaScript

/*

A rough CSS reproduction of the navigation found at http://beta.rallyinteractive.com/

*/