Pure CSS3 breadcrumb navigation

index.html

<!-- a simple div with some links -->
<div class="breadcrumb">
	<a href="#" class="active">Browse</a>
	<a href="#">Compare</a>
	<a href="#">Order Confirmation</a>
	<a href="#">Checkout</a>
</div>
<br /><br />
<!-- another version - flat style with animated hover effect -->
<div class="breadcrumb flat">
	<a href="#" class="active">Browse</a>
	<a href="#">Compare</a>
	<a href="#">Order Confirmation</a>
	<a href="#">Checkout</a>
</div>

<!-- Prefixfree -->
<script src="http://thecodeplayer.com/uploads/js/prefixfree-1.0.7.js" type="text/javascript" type="text/javascript"></script>

Pure CSS3 breadcrumb navigation.markdown

Pure CSS3 breadcrumb navigation

breadcrumb navigation using pure CSS3

A Pen by Arkev on CodePen.

License.

script.js

// no requiere javascript

style.css

/*custom font*/
@import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Merriweather+Sans);

* {margin: 0; padding: 0;}

html, body {min-height: 100%;}

body {
	text-align: center;
	padding-top: 100px;
	background: #689976;
	background: linear-gradient(#689976, #ACDACC);
	font-family: 'Merriweather Sans', arial, verdana;
}

.breadcrumb {
	/*centering*/
	display: inline-block;
	box-shadow: 0 0 15px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
	overflow: hidden;
	border-radius: 5px;
	/*Lets add the numbers for each link using CSS counters. flag is the name of the counter. to be defined using counter-reset in the parent element of the links*/
	counter-reset: flag; 
}

.breadcrumb a {
	text-decoration: none;
	outline: none;
	display: block;
	float: left;
	font-size: 12px;
	line-height: 36px;
	color: white;
	/*need more margin on the left of links to accomodate the numbers*/
	padding: 0 10px 0 60px;
	background: #666;
	background: linear-gradient(#666, #333);
	position: relative;
}
/*since the first link does not have a triangle before it we can reduce the left padding to make it look consistent with other links*/
.breadcrumb a:first-child {
	padding-left: 46px;
	border-radius: 5px 0 0 5px; /*to match with the parent's radius*/
}
.breadcrumb a:first-child:before {
	left: 14px;
}
.breadcrumb a:last-child {
	border-radius: 0 5px 5px 0; /*this was to prevent glitches on hover*/
	padding-right: 20px;
}

/*hover/active styles*/
.breadcrumb a.active, .breadcrumb a:hover{
	background: #333;
	background: linear-gradient(#333, #000);
}
.breadcrumb a.active:after, .breadcrumb a:hover:after {
	background: #333;
	background: linear-gradient(135deg, #333, #000);
}

/*adding the arrows for the breadcrumbs using rotated pseudo elements*/
.breadcrumb a:after {
	content: '';
	position: absolute;
	top: 0; 
	right: -18px; /*half of square's length*/
	/*same dimension as the line-height of .breadcrumb a */
	width: 36px; 
	height: 36px;
	/*as you see the rotated square takes a larger height. which makes it tough to position it properly. So we are going to scale it down so that the diagonals become equal to the line-height of the link. We scale it to 70.7% because if square's: 
	length = 1; diagonal = (1^2 + 1^2)^0.5 = 1.414 (pythagoras theorem)
	if diagonal required = 1; length = 1/1.414 = 0.707*/
	transform: scale(0.707) rotate(45deg);
	/*we need to prevent the arrows from getting buried under the next link*/
	z-index: 1;
	/*background same as links but the gradient will be rotated to compensate with the transform applied*/
	background: #666;
	background: linear-gradient(135deg, #666, #333);
	/*stylish arrow design using box shadow*/
	box-shadow: 
		2px -2px 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), 
		3px -3px 0 2px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
	/*
		5px - for rounded arrows and 
		50px - to prevent hover glitches on the border created using shadows*/
	border-radius: 0 5px 0 50px;
}
/*we dont need an arrow after the last link*/
.breadcrumb a:last-child:after {
	content: none;
}
/*we will use the :before element to show numbers*/
.breadcrumb a:before {
	content: counter(flag);
	counter-increment: flag;
	/*some styles now*/
	border-radius: 100%;
	width: 20px;
	height: 20px;
	line-height: 20px;
	margin: 8px 0;
	position: absolute;
	top: 0;
	left: 30px;
	background: #444;
	background: linear-gradient(#444, #222);
	font-weight: bold;
}


.flat a, .flat a:after {
	background: white;
	color: black;
	transition: all 0.5s;
}
.flat a:before {
	background: white;
	box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #ccc;
}
.flat a:hover, .flat a.active, 
.flat a:hover:after, .flat a.active:after{
	background: #9EEB62;
}