How to create dynamic bracket borders around content? - css

Question

I'm trying to add this gray bracket to the right of a list. I tried playing around with borders on the div around the each item, but the items are separated by a few other tags and margin space top and bottom, also I don't know how to get only part of a top border showing. I need the brackets to expand and stay aligned if a selected item is expanded.
Any CSS recommendations?
This is where I'm at now https://jsfiddle.net/ux9dxoa9/
.item {
float: left;
clear:left;
border: 2px solid red;
padding: 8px 0px;
height: 100px;
width: 100px;
}
.other_div{
float: left;
padding: 18px 0px;
height: 100px;
width: 100px;
}

Answer 1

You can use pseudo elements
* {
margin: 0; padding: 0; box-sizing: border-box;
}
.outer {
display: inline-block;
border-right: 1px solid #ddd;
margin-left: 30px;
}
.outer, .outer > li {
position: relative;
}
.outer > li {
padding: 1em;
}
.outer:before, .outer:after, .outer > li:not(:first-child):before {
content: '';
position: absolute;
width: .5em;
height: 1px;
background: #ddd;
}
.outer:before, .outer:after, .outer > li:before, .outer > li:after {
right: 0;
}
.outer:before, .outer > li:before {
top: 0;
}
.outer:after, .outer > li:after {
bottom: 0;
}
<ul class="outer">
<li>item</li>
<li>item</li>
<li>nested
<ul>
<li>nested</li>
<li>nested</li>
<li>nested</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>item</li>
<li>item</li>
</ul>