Dark Button Navigation Using CSS3

I recently came across a great looking set of navigational buttons designed by Orman Clark of Premium Pixels. I’m a big fan of his design style and decided to whip together a quick CSS3/HTML version of the buttons. Check out the demo and feel free to download the example zip file as well.

View Online DemoDownload Files (zip)

The CSS:

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/* Dark Button CSS */
.button {
    outline: 0;
    padding: 5px 12px;
    display: block;
    color: #9fa8b0;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px #1f272b;
    border: 1px solid #1c252b;
    border-radius: 3px;
    -moz-border-radius: 3px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 3px;
    background: #232B30; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #3D4850 3%, #313d45 4%, #232B30 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#3D4850), color-stop(4%,#313d45), color-stop(100%,#232B30)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#3D4850', endColorstr='#232B30',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* CSS3 */
    -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* Firefox */
    -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* Safari, Chrome */
}
.button:hover {
    color: #fff;
    background: #4C5A64; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #4C5A64 3%, #404F5A 4%, #2E3940 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#4C5A64), color-stop(4%,#404F5A), color-stop(100%,#2E3940)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#4C5A64', endColorstr='#2E3940',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
}
.button:active {
    background-position: 0 top;
    position: relative;
    top: 1px;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 6px 12px 4px;
    background: #20282D; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #20282D 3%, #252E34 51%, #222A30 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#20282D), color-stop(51%,#252E34), color-stop(100%,#222A30)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#20282D', endColorstr='#222A30',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
    -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Firefox */
    -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Safari, Chrome */
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* CSS3 */
}

/* Search CSS: */
.search-input {
    padding: 0 5px 0 22px;
    border: 1px solid #1c252b;
    height: 30px;
    color: #9fa8b0;
    font-size: 12px;
    line-height: 30px;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px #1f272b;
    border-radius: 25px;
    -moz-border-radius: 25px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 25px;
    background: #20282D; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #20282D 3%, #252E34 51%, #222A30 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#20282D), color-stop(51%,#252E34), color-stop(100%,#222A30)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#20282D', endColorstr='#222A30',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
    -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Firefox */
    -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Safari, Chrome */
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* CSS3 */
}
.search-input:focus {outline: none;}
.search-submit {
    width: 13px;
    height: 13px;
    border: none;
    background: url(mag-glass.png) no-repeat;
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    left: 26px;
    top: 10px;
    text-indent: -9999em;
}

/* Vertical List: */
.vertical-list {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 10px;
    width: 200px;
    border-radius: 5px;
    -moz-border-radius: 5px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 5px;
    background: #20282D; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #20282D 3%, #252E34 51%, #222A30 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#20282D), color-stop(51%,#252E34), color-stop(100%,#222A30)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#20282D', endColorstr='#222A30',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
    -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Firefox */
    -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Safari, Chrome */
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* CSS3 */
}
.vertical-list .button {
    border-radius: 5px;
    -moz-border-radius: 5px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 5px;
    background: #515B62; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #515B62 3%, #444E55 5%, #394147 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#515B62), color-stop(5%,#444E55), color-stop(100%,#394147)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#515B62', endColorstr='#394147',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
}
.vertical-list .button:hover {
    background: #5F6B72; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #5F6B72 3%, #56646C 4%, #4D5A62 50%, #434D54 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#5F6B72), color-stop(4%,#56646C), color-stop(50%,#4D5A62), color-stop(100%,#434D54)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#5F6B72', endColorstr='#434D54',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */
}
.vertical-list .button:active {
    padding: 5px 12px;
    top: 0;
    background: #515B62; /* old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #515B62 3%, #444E55 5%, #394147 100%); /* firefox */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(3%,#515B62), color-stop(5%,#444E55), color-stop(100%,#394147)); /* webkit */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#515B62', endColorstr='#394147',GradientType=0 ); /* ie */       -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.1); /* Firefox */
    -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* Firefox */
    -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* Safari, Chrome */
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2); /* CSS3 */
}

The HTML:

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<ul class="button-list">
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Home</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>About</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Portfolio</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Blog</a></li>
    <li class="search"><input type="text" class="search-input" name="search" value="Search" onclick="$(this).val('');" /><input type="submit" class="search-submit" /></li>
</ul>
<h3>Vertical Menu:</h3>
<ul class="vertical-list">
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Home</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Our Studio</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Portfolio</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Our Team</a></li>
    <li><a href='/' class='button'>Get in Touch</a></li>
</ul>

About the Demo

The only image used in the demo is for the textured background – all other gradients and effects are done with CSS3. As a result, compatibility is limited to a handful of browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and possibly IE8. It looks strange in IE7 and the gradients don’t work in Opera, so I’d use caution if you’re considering using these in a production environment.

It’s quite easy to reproduce this effect using images, which is why I decided to go for the slightly more challenging route of using CSS3. If you’re really good, you’ll want to have an image-based solution as a backup for browsers that don’t support fancy CSS3 effects yet. I’ll leave that up to you guys though. ;)

As always, feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. Be sure to check out Orman’s blog, it’s chock full of great resources!

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