Bruce Lawson recently asked for ways to style a definition list in the common glossary format. This is one way to do it.

Bruce’s original post – css challenge – describes what he is after: a “glossary style” appearance with the term on the left and the definitions on the right. Some terms will have multiple definitions, definitions of varying length, and each new term should appear on a new line. A definition list is semantically correct for this kind of information, so there was to be no fiddling around with the HTML, and the browser requirements were for it to work in all modern browsers and IE 6+.

You can skip straight to the demo where some additional classes are included in the HTML in order to highlight each term-definition association.

The basic HTML

The basic HTML structure is a simple definition list and nothing more. There are some short, long, and multiple definitions for each term.

<h1>Styling definition lists</h1>
<dl>
  <dt>Cheese</dt>
  <dd>
    <p>Velit esse cillum dolore in reprehenderit in voluptate duis aute irure dolor. Consectetur adipisicing elit, excepteur sint occaecat sunt in culpa. Velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>
    <p>Mollit anim id est laborum. Ut enim ad minim veniam, consectetur adipisicing elit, ullamco laboris nisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sunt in culpa quis nostrud exercitation.</p>
  </dd>
  <dd>yummy!</dd>

  <dt>Building flexibility through spreading knowledge and self-organization, exploiting the productive lifecycle to experience a profound paradigm shift. Through the adoption of a proactive stance, the astute manager can adopt a position at the vanguard.</dt>
  <dd>balderdash</dd>;
  <dd>poppycock</dd>

  <dt>Aardvark</dt>
  <dd>never hurt anyone</dd>
</dl>

The styles

In order to get the required appearance in all browsers I had to use negative margins and a few conditional styles to get IE7 and IE6 to play along.

For the purposes of the demo I’ve placed all the styles in <style> blocks in the head of the document.

<style>
   dl {padding-left:300px;}
   dt {clear:both; float:left; width:260px; padding:10px; margin:0 0 2em -300px; font-weight:bold; color:#686663;}
   dd {float:left; width:100%; padding:10px 0; margin:0 0 2em;}
</styl>
<!--[if lte IE 7]>
<style>
   dt {display:inline; margin-bottom:0;}
   dd {float:none; width:auto;}
</style>
<![endif]-->

That’s it. The widths of the <dt> can be set in ems or percentages if the layout requires. The complete code is available in the demo and you are free to use this code.

Create a simple CSS folded-corner effect without images or extra markup. It works well in all modern browsers and is best suited to designs with simple colour backgrounds.

Demo: Pure CSS folded-corner effect

Known support: Firefox 3.5+, Chrome 4+, Safari 4+, Opera 10+, IE 8+

This post is going to expand on the technique used to create the folded-corner effect that is part of the demo page for Multiple Backgrounds and Borders with CSS 2.1. As a starting point it will look to recreate the appearance of the note style used on the Yiibu‘s fantastic web site. Where Yiibu uses images, this will use pseudo-elements.

Nothing complicated. Any element will do and there’s no need for extra markup. It’s just a simple coloured box to start with. Browsers with no support for pseudo-elements, such as IE6 and IE7, will only be capable of displaying this.

Adding position:relative makes it possible to absolutely position the pseudo-element.

.note {
  position: relative;
  width: 30%;
  padding: 1em 1.5em;
  margin: 2em auto;
  color: #fff;
  background: #97C02F;
}

The folded-corner

The folded-corner is created from a pseudo-element that is positioned in the top corner of the box. The pseudo-element has no width or height but is given a thick border. Varying the size of the border will vary the size of the folded-corner.

In this example, the top and right borders are set to colours that match the background colour of the box’s parent. The left and bottom border are then given a slightly darker or lighter shade of the box’s background colour.

.note:before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
  border-width: 0 16px 16px 0;
  border-style: solid;
  border-color: #658E15 #fff;
}

This is all that’s needed to create a simple folded-corner effect like that found on Yiibu.

Firefox 3.0 doesn’t allow for the positioning of pseudo-elements. You can throw in a couple of extra styles to help tidy things up in that browser.

.note:before {
  ...
  display: block;
  width: 0;
}

Adding a subtle shadow

The appearance of a fold can be slightly enhanced by adding a box-shadow (for browsers that support it) to the pseudo-element. Setting overflow:hidden on the note itself will help hide parts of the shadow that would disrupt the folded-corner effect.

.note:before {
  ...
  -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
  -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
  box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
}

Rounded corners

It’s also relatively simple to make this work with rounded corners if desired. Unfortunately, every modern browser has some form of border-radius bug – including those using the non-prefixed property – which means a slight work around is needed.

Webkit browsers are the only browsers that can come anywhere close to rounding the corner of the pseudo-element if it only has 2 borders. Opera 11 and Firefox 3.6 make a mess of it. Opera 11 makes the biggest mess.

Using 4 borders avoids the problems in Opera 11 and Firefox 3.6. But it will trigger a bug in Safari 5 that leaves the diagonal looking a little jaggy. We can get around this problem by setting at least one border colour to be transparent.

When a background colour is applied to the pseudo-element it will show through the transparent border. Ideally, this approach would form the basis of the entire effect because we could reduce the amount of code needed. But Opera 11 will not show the background colour through the transparent borders unless a border-radius has been set.

.note-rounded:before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
  border-width: 8px;
  border-color: #fff #fff transparent transparent;
  background: #658E15;
  -moz-border-radius: 0 0 0 5px;
  border-radius: 0 0 0 5px;
  display: block;
  width: 0;
}

The CSS file on the demo page has more comments on the work arounds. Every browser has its own peculiarities when it comes to using border-radius or borders on elements with no width or height. This is the merely simplest solution I’ve found to deal with those browser inconsistencies.

The final code

This is all the CSS needed to create a simple folded-corner effect, with a subtle shadow, from a single HTML element. To include a variant with rounded corners, the “note” object can be extended with the modifications described previously.

.note {
  position: relative;
  width: 30%;
  padding: 1em 1.5em;
  margin: 2em auto;
  color: #fff;
  background: #97C02F;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.note:before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
  border-width: 0 16px 16px 0;
  border-style: solid;
  border-color: #fff #fff #658E15 #658E15;
  background: #658E15;
  -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
  -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
  box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3), -1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
  /* Firefox 3.0 damage limitation */
  display: block; width: 0;
}

.note.rounded {
  -moz-border-radius: 5px 0 5px 5px;
  border-radius: 5px 0 5px 5px;
}

.note.rounded:before {
  border-width: 8px;
  border-color: #fff #fff transparent transparent;
  -moz-border-radius: 0 0 0 5px;
  border-radius: 0 0 0 5px;
}

The demo page shows the final effect, an example with rounded corners, and how different coloured notes are easy to create from this base.

This technique works less well when the element receiving the folded-corner effect is sitting on top of a background image rather than a simple background colour. However, the same limitation exists for image-based methods of creating this effect.

Greene, Jeffrey R., author

McGinn, Jeffrey

Smith, Roland, 1951- author

Nelson-Smith, Stephen

Peck, Dave D

Weitzel, Sloan R., author

Kaynak, Hale, 1956-

Fyock, Catherine D., author

Havens, Jeff, author

Geraldi, Joana G., 1979- author

Wilson, Meena S., author

Schnieder, Stefan

Maciariello, Joseph A., author

Kerkhof, Twan van de, author

O'Keeffe, Niamh

Interview with Nora Pashayan, BSc MSc MSt MD PhD FFPH, author of Cost-effectiveness and Benefit-to-Harm Ratio of Risk-Stratified Screening for Breast Cancer: A Life-Table Model

This summary reviews a randomized clinical trial that explores the effect of the early introduction of solid foods on infant sleep.

Association of Early Introduction of Solids With Infant Sleep: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Alexander T. Sandhu, MD, MS, author of Association Between Offering Limited Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Echocardiograms and Overall Use of Echocardiography

Interview with Marc S. Sabatine, MD, MPH, author of Efficacy and Safety of Further Lowering of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Patients Starting With Very Low Levels: A Meta-analysis

Interview with Jeroen J. Bax, MD, PhD, author of Association of Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain With Asymptomatic Severe Aortic Stenosis: Natural Course and Prognostic Value, and James D. Thomas, author of Moving Past Ejection Fraction in Timing of Aortic Stenosis Intervention

Interview with Brooke Nickel and Juan Brito, MD, MSc, authors of Effect of a Change in Papillary Thyroid Cancer Terminology on Anxiety Levels and Treatment Preferences: A Randomized Crossover Trial

Interview with Larry B. Goldstein, MD, author of Effect of Dextroamphetamine on Poststroke Motor Recovery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Ananias C Diokno, MD, author of Effect of Group-Administered Behavioral Treatment on Urinary Incontinence in Older Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Ian Leslie. Mcallister, FRANZCO, author of Two-Year Efficacy of Ranibizumab Plus Laser-Induced Chorioretinal Anastomosis vs Ranibizumab Monotherapy for Central Retinal Vein Occlusion: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Mikel Izquierdo, Ph.D, and Nicolás Martínez-Velilla, PhD, authors of Effect of Exercise Intervention on Functional Decline in Very Elderly Patients During Acute Hospitalization: A Randomized Clinical Trial, and William J. Hall, MD, author of A Novel Exercise Intervention and Functional Status in Very Elderly Patients During Acute Hospitalization

Interview with Guido Beldi, Consultant Surgeon, author of Effectiveness of Prophylactic Intraperitoneal Mesh Implantation for Prevention of Incisional Hernia in Patients Undergoing Open Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Aaron Kesselheim, author of Analysis of Proposed Medicare Part B to Part D Shift With Associated Changes in Total Spending and Patient Cost-Sharing for Prescription Drugs, and Francis J. Crosson, M.D., author of Managing the Cost of Medicare Part B Drugs: Implications for the Program and Beneficiaries

Interview with Amanda H. Kerbrat, MSW, author of Effect of Augmenting Standard Care for Military Personnel With Brief Caring Text Messages for Suicide Prevention: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Eileen Birch, Ph.D., author of Self-perception in Children Aged 3 to 7 Years With Amblyopia and Its Association With Deficits in Vision and Fine Motor Skills

Interview with Alfred Iloreta, MD, author of Association of Surgical and Hospital Volume and Patient Characteristics With 30-Day Readmission Rates

Interview with Pim Cuijpers, PhD, author of Effectiveness and Acceptability of Cognitive Behavior Therapy Delivery Formats in Adults With Depression: A Network Meta-analysis

Interview with Quynh-Nhu Nguyen, M.D., author of Single-Fraction Stereotactic vs Conventional Multifraction Radiotherapy for Pain Relief in Patients With Predominantly Nonspine Bone Metastases: A Randomized Phase 2 Trial

Interview with Jessica Scott, author of Association of Exercise and Swimming Goggles With Modulation of Cerebro-ocular Hemodynamics and Pressures in a Model of Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome

Interview with Steven C. Cramer, MD, MMSc, author of Efficacy of Home-Based Telerehabilitation vs In-Clinic Therapy for Adults After Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Klaus Wölfling, PhD, author of Efficacy of Short-term Treatment of Internet and Computer Game Addiction: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Interview with Michael J. Reilly, MD, author of Evaluation of Personality Perception in Men Before and After Facial Cosmetic Surgery

Interview with Adrian F. Hernandez, MD, MHS, author of Clinical Effectiveness of Direct Oral Anticoagulants vs Warfarin in Older Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Stroke: Findings From the Patient-Centered Research Into Outcomes Stroke Patients Prefer and Effectiveness Research (PROSPER) Study