"hair pulling" side-by-side floating div's - css

Question

I have a simple horizontal nav menu that uses highly-styled anchors for buttons. Now, the last button, called "store" has a list of content that becomes visible via this jquery hover effect.
I can't get the "store" button to align with the rest of them. Two days now I'm trying float:left margin 50% whatever, position:incorrect, overflow:I-forget-what, clear:both, plus various cheesy hacks, and I'm at that point of CSS positioning where you start thinking seriously about re-constructing your layout using tables.
Instead of selling my soul to tables, I guess I better just ask someone who is more experienced to please take a look:
http://www.ideagasms.net/ideagasms-with-dropdown-menu.html
When viewing source, you'll notice I added lots of comments next to the main elements so it should be easy to make sense of everything quickly. Thank you. :)

Answer 1

This code should work:
I've added a wrapping div to your menu with a fixed width and centred it on the page. Then added each a tag into an li.
Your jQuery Menu is now broken but it should just be a case of finding the correct elements again now the orders have changed in the dom.
You might also have to create some new styles and add them to the elements again. As I've probably messed a few bits up. I'd suggest adding proper classes and id's so you don't run into styling problems in the future.
<div id="nav">
<ul>
<li>
<a alt="STORE" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/ideagasms-products/">STORE</a>
<ul class="file_menu">
<li>File</li>
<li>Edit</li>
<li>View</li>
<li>Insert</li>
<li>Modify</li>
<li>Control</li>
<li>Debug</li>
<li>Window</li>
<li>Help</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a alt="HOME" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">HOME</a> </li>
<li><a alt="VIDEO" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">VIDEO</a> </li>
<li><a alt="ABOUT" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">ABOUT</a></li>
<li><a alt="CONTACT" class="smcf-link navmenu faded">CONTACT</a></li>
<li><a alt="DONATIONS" class="navmenu scroll faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">DONATIONS</a></li>
<li><a alt="MENTORING" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">MENTORING</a></li>
<li><a alt="BEAUTY" class="navmenu faded" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">BEAUTY</a></li>
<li><a alt="SNIPPETS" class="navmenu scroll faded" style="letter-spacing:1px" href="http://www.ideagasms.net/link">#iG</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<style type="text/css">
#buttonnav {
float:left;
height: 25px;
width: 100px;
margin-bottom:1cm;
position:relative;
z-index:9;
}
#nav {
margin: auto;
width: 740px;
background: orange;
}
ul {
margin: auto;
}
ul li {
display: inline;
float: left;
}
.menu_class {
border:1px solid #1c1c1c;
}
ul.file_menu {
cursor:pointer;
display:none;
width:260px;
border: 1px solid #1c1c1c;
margin:0;
padding:0;
list-style:none;
}
.file_menu li {
background-color: #302f2f;
}
.file_menu li a {
color:#FFFFFF;
text-decoration:none;
padding:10px;
display:block;
}
.file_menu li a:hover {
padding:10px;
font-weight:bold;
color: #F00880;
}
</style>

Answer 2

That menu looks atrocious and to be honest, doesn't allow for much flexibility as you noticed.
If I were you I would rebuild it in t way where a proper html structure is used with a (nested) li structure so you could just whip in that extra item and the submenu...
This is the ugly fix
#buttonnav {
display: inline-block;
/* remove the float & widht */
}
.hoverli ul.file-menu {
position:absolute;
}
This is a case where you should probably go back to the basics and re-learn how to make a proper menu. If this is in some content management system then override the classes & templates to make it so you can easily add things...
Stuff I am missing for the sub menu also is position: absolute; (and you probably want the sub-menus parent to be relative).

Answer 3

You need to fix two things to properly present the button and have the sub-menu functioning:
See this working Fiddle Example!
1)
Set the css for the button like:
#buttonnav {
display: inline-block;
height: 25px;
position: relative;
z-index: 9;
}
Note: display:inline-block; gets in and float, margin and width gets out.
2)
Adjust the css for the sub-menu to allow it to appear without breaking the layout:
CSS
.hoverli {
position: relative;
z-index: 1;
}
.hoverli ul {
position:absolute;
}