CSS Faux Sidebar

Full height sidebar using pure HTML and CSS

by Rob Rothe

HTML

<div class="faux-sidebar"></div>

<div class="nav">
  Navbar
</div>

<div class="sidebar">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link 2</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li>
  </ul>
</div>

<div class="main">
  <h1>Full Height Sidebar Using Pure HTML and CSS</h1>
  <hr>
  <ul>
    <li>Uses a fixed div with a width and background color for the 'sidebar'</li>
    <li>The sidebar content itself is floats left with the same width as the faux-sidebar minus padding</li>
    <li>The main content has a margin-left 20 pixels more than the width of the sidebar.</li>
  </ul>
  Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up
  one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum
  et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section
  1.10.32. The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English
  versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham. Where can I get some? There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don't look
  even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn't anything...

CSS

body {
  padding: 0 !important;
  background: #fff;
  font-family: 'HelveticaNeue-Thin', 'Helvetica Neue Thin', 'Helvetica', 'Arial', sans-serif;
}

.faux-sidebar {
  position: fixed;
  height: 100%;
  background: #f7f7f7;
  width: 260px;
  border-right: 1px solid #ddd;
  z-index: -1;
}

.nav {
  padding: 10px;
  background: #333;
  color: #fff;
}

.sidebar {
  padding: 10px;
  width: 240px;
  float: left;
}

.sidebar ul {
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
  list-style: none;
}

.sidebar ul li a {
  padding: 8px;
  margin-bottom: 12px;
  display: block;
  color: #666;
  text-decoration: none;
}

.sidebar ul li a:hover {
  background: #ddd;
}

.main {
  padding: 20px;
  margin-left: 280px
}

h1 {
  margin-top:0;
}