25 creative CSS menus (creative examples)

A good user flow contributes enormously to a successful website. The content, positioning and appearance of your menu/navigation should therefore be well thought out. Here you can find some inspiration and examples for your own CSS menu!

Partially in this list are “normal” CSS menus, for a very simple reason: the usability comes first and only then the appearance. Normal menu bars can also look very chic. With the right effects and animations they become a real eye-catcher.

The same of course applies to mobile displays, often called “hamburgers”. I have also compiled a large collection of CSS hamburger menus for you in the linked post.

The pens shown are licensed with MIT. You can find more info about your own use on the Codepen Blog.

#1 Cool Nav Menu Hover

See the Pen Nav Menu Hover by Hans Engebretsen (@hans) on CodePen.

Author: Hans Engebretsen;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (SCSS);

#2 Sticky Navigation Menu with Smooth Scrolling

See the Pen Sticky Navigation Menu With Smooth Scrolling by Praveen Bisht (@prvnbist) on CodePen.

Author: Praveen Bisht;
Coded in: HTML (Pug), CSS (SCSS), JS (jQuery);

#3 Pure CSS DropDown Menu

See the Pen Pure CSS DropDown Menu by Andor Nagy (@andornagy) on CodePen.

Author: Andor Nagy;
Coded in: HTML, CSS;

#4 Accessibility menu

See the Pen Accessibility menu by Lee Kiernan (@leekiernan) on CodePen.

Author: Lee Kiernan;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (SCSS), JS (jQuery);

#5 CSS Menu hover effects

See the Pen CSS Menu hover effects by Sarath AR (@sarath-ar) on CodePen.

Author: Sarath AR;
Coded in: HTML, CSS;

#6 Icon Menu

See the Pen Nav/Menu Button by Graham Pyne (@gpyne) on CodePen.

Author: Graham Pyne;
Coded in: HTML, CSS;

#7 Snap.svg Menu animation

See the Pen Snap.svg Menu animation by romagny jerome (@romagny13) on CodePen.

Author: romagny jerome;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (SCSS), JS (Snap.svg);

#8 Standard Nav Bar

See the Pen Nav Bar by Justin (@nilbog) on CodePen.

Author: Justin;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (SCSS), JS (jQuery);

#9 Half-page Menu

See the Pen menu by mp_graphic (@mp_graphic) on CodePen.

Author: mp_graphic;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS (jQuery);

#10 CSS menu transitions

See the Pen CSS menu transitions by Khaos (@Khaosmuhaha) on CodePen.

Author: Khaos;
Coded in: HTML, CSS;

#11 Vertical Navigation Menu

See the Pen Vertical Navigation Menu by Madalin Tudose (@madalintudose) on CodePen.

Author: Madalin Tudose;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS (jQuery);

#12 Portfolio Icon Nav

See the Pen Portfolio by Ridho Ahmad Batubara (@beteer) on CodePen.

Author: Ridho Ahmad Batubara;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS (jQuery);

#13 Responsive navigation multilevel

See the Pen Responsive navigation multilevel by Stéphanie Walter (@stephaniewalter) on CodePen.

Author: Stéphanie Walter;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (Less), JS (jQuery);

#14 Nav Menu Design

See the Pen Nav Menu Design by Abdullah Al Amin (@billionbd) on CodePen.

Author: Abdullah Al Amin;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

#15 Full page drop down – GSAP

See the Pen Full page drop down – GSAP by Rath (@rp20) on CodePen.

Author: Rath;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS (jQuery, TweenMax.js);

#16 Lavalamp CSS Menu

See the Pen Lavalamp CSS Menu by Patak (@Patak) on CodePen.

Author: Patak;
Coded in: HTML, CSS;

#17 Circle Nav

See the Pen Circle Nav by Corey Roth (@coreyroth) on CodePen.

Author: Corey Roth;
Coded in: HTML, CSS (SCSS), JS (jQuery);

#18 Magic Line Menu

See the Pen Magic Line Menu by Collin Smith (@collincodes) on CodePen.

Author: Collin Smith;
Coded in: HTML (Pug), CSS (Stylus), JS (jQuery);

#19 Sliding Menu

See the Pen Sliding Menu by Florian-Gropp (@florian-gropp) on CodePen.

Author: Florian-Gropp;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

#20 Another Circle Menu

See the Pen circle menu by Pierre (@Piewe) on CodePen.

Author: Pierre;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

#21 Pure CSS One page vertical navigation

See the Pen Pure CSS One page vertical navigation by Hrtzt (@hrtzt) on CodePen.

Author: Hrtzt;
Coded in: HTML (Pug), CSS (Sass), JS;

#22 CSS Menu Concept (Clip-path)

See the Pen CSS Menu Concept (Clip-path) by Charlie Marcotte (@FUGU22) on CodePen.

Author: Charlie Marcotte;
Coded in: HTML (Pug), CSS (Sass), JS;

#23 💪 CSS menu feat. emoji

See the Pen 💪 CSS menu feat. emoji by Piotr Galor (@pgalor) on CodePen.

Author: Piotr Galor;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

#24 Pure CSS Menu Navigation

See the Pen Pure CSS Menu Navigation by Izzy Skye (@chrysokitty) on CodePen.

Author: Izzy Skye;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

#25 Pure CSS Menu

See the Pen Pure CSS Menu by Karim Khan (@icodefx) on CodePen.

Author: Karim Khan;
Coded in: HTML, CSS, JS;

Conclusion

Did you code your own fancy menu, which should appear in this list? Please let me know! 🙂

Note: All buttons are all published on codepen.io and not by me.

Not enough? Then this could be something for you: