Making Link Padding Clickable - css

Question

The padding around the link for my dropdown menu isn't clickable. When I mouse over the actual text, it changes color and becomes clickable. How can I make the padding clickable? I read that I should style it as an inline-block, but that didn't work. This is also my first post, so correct me for the countless things that I probably did wrong.
CSS:
body {
font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
padding: 20px 50px 150px;
font-size: 13px;
text-align: left;
background-position:center;
background-image:url(sun.jpg);
}
a {
display:inline-block;
color: #6FF;
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
color: #FFF;
}
ul {
color:#6FF
text-align: left;
display: inline-block;
margin: 0;
padding: 1px 1px 1px 0;
list-style: none;
}
ul li {
color: purple;
font: bold 12px/18px sans-serif;
display: inline-block;
margin-right: -10px;
position: relative;
padding: 20px 20px;
background: #fff;
cursor: pointer;
-webkit-transition: all 0.5s;
-moz-transition: all 0.5s;
-ms-transition: all 0.5s;
-o-transition: all 0.5s;
transition: all 0.5s;
}
ul li:hover {
background: #555;
color: #fff;
}
ul li ul {
padding:0;
position:absolute;
top: 54px;
left: 0;
width: 150px;
display: none;
opacity: 0;
visibility: hidden;
-webkit-transiton: opacity 0.5s;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-ms-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-o-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-transition: opacity 0.5s;
}
ul li ul li {
background-color:#555;
color:#6FF;
display: block;
}
ul li ul li:hover { background: #555; }
ul li:hover ul {
display: block;
opacity: 1;
visibility: visible;
}

Answer 1

You should put the padding to the link, no the list item because the link is what is clickable.
body {
font-family:'Lucida Grande', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
padding: 20px 50px 150px;
font-size: 13px;
text-align: left;
background-position:center;
background-image:url(sun.jpg);
}
a {
padding: 20px 20px;
display:inline-block;
color: #6FF;
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
color: #FFF;
}
ul {
color:#6FF text-align: left;
display: inline-block;
margin: 0;
padding: 1px 1px 1px 0;
list-style: none;
}
ul li {
color: purple;
font: bold 12px/18px sans-serif;
display: inline-block;
margin-right: -10px;
position: relative;
background: #fff;
cursor: pointer;
-webkit-transition: all 0.5s;
-moz-transition: all 0.5s;
-ms-transition: all 0.5s;
-o-transition: all 0.5s;
transition: all 0.5s;
}
ul li:hover {
background: #555;
color: #fff;
}
ul li ul {
padding:0;
position:absolute;
top: 54px;
left: 0;
width: 150px;
display: none;
opacity: 0;
visibility: hidden;
-webkit-transiton: opacity 0.5s;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-ms-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-o-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-transition: opacity 0.5s;
}
ul li ul li {
background-color:#555;
color:#6FF;
display: block;
}
ul li ul li:hover {
background: #555;
}
ul li:hover ul {
display: block;
opacity: 1;
visibility: visible;
}
<ul>
<li>First link
</li>
<li>First link
</li>
<li>First link
</li>
<li>First link
</li>
<li>First link
</li>
<li>First link
</li>
</ul>