Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | Running with sprites

Information

Based on a demonstration by Avalonstar

This is a demonstration of the :hover and :active/:focus states of a link. Hover the mouse over the front, middle and rear of the image to reveal a higher definition image and click the hover image to reveal the highest definition image. Opera users will need to hold the mouse button for the third image to remain on the screen.

The original demonstration by Avalonstar moved the link background whereas this demonstration keeps the background in the same place and moves the link instead for :hover but moves the background for :active and :focus.

This car image has been chosen because it fits my layout and demonstrates the three different image states fairly well (and doesn't infringe any copyrights).

Tested in IE5.5, IE6, Firefox 1.06, Opera 8, NN8, Mozilla 1.7.5

Cascading Style Sheet

#car {
  width:435px; 
  height:143px; 
  margin:10px auto; 
  padding:0; 
  position:relative; 
  list-style-type:none; 
  background:url(../images/car2.jpg);
  }
#car li {
  display:block; 
  height:143px; 
  width:145px; 
  position:absolute; 
  left:0; 
  top:0; 
  overflow:hidden;
  }
#car li#section2 {
  left:145px;
  }
#car li#section3 {
  left:290px;
  }
a:visited {
  color:#000;
  }
#car li a, #car li a:visited {
  position:absolute; 
  width:145px; 
  height:429px; 
  background: url(../images/car2.jpg); 
  text-indent: -100em; 
  overflow:hidden;
  }
#car li#section2 a, #car li#section2 a:visited {
  background-position:-145px 0;
  }
#car li#section3 a, #car li#section3 a:visited {
  background-position:-290px 0;
  }
#car li a:hover {
  margin:0; top:-143px;
  }
#car li a:active, #car li a:focus {
  padding:0; 
  top:0; 
  height:143px; 
  background-position:left bottom;
  }
#car li#section2 a:active, #car li#section2 a:focus {
  background-position:center bottom;
  }
#car li#section3 a:active, #car li#section3 a:focus {
  background-position:right bottom;
  }

xhtml

<ul id="car"> 
<li id="section1"><a href="#nogo">Section One</a></li> 
<li id="section2"><a href="#nogo">Section Two</a></li> 
<li id="section3"><a href="#nogo">Section Three</a></li> 
</ul>

Copyright

You may use this method on your personal 'non-profit' web site without seeking my permission. A link back to CSSplay is always appreciated.

Commercial usage is also permitted without seeking approval, but I would ask that a donation is considered to support my work on CSSPlay.

If you are having problems integrating any of my demonstrations into your website then I now offer a service to fault find and correct any errors that you may have introduced. Please email me for more information.