Spry tabbed panels as menu system

Question

Hi,
This is actually for Dreamweaver CS6.    What I'm trying to do is use spry tabbed panels as horizontal my menu system.    I want to have basically the functionality of the adobe.com menu system where the drop downs are tabbed and the content box size varies depending on the tab and the content box moves it's position relative to the tab that's selected.     I did manage to get the mouseover working so the tab's change according to which tab the mouse passes over.
My current problems are these:
I managed to change the content panel box size so it's not the same width as the full panel tab group however I cannot get it to move relative to which tab is selected, it just stays fixed in one location.
The content tabs are pushing the body of my page down instead of showing up over top of it which is obvioulsy not very condusive for a menu system.
I would like the default to show none of the panels until someone mouseover's one of the tab's and for the panels to dissapear when the mouse is not in the menu system.
For something similar to the adobe.com menu system am i using the right feature (it looks like tabbed panels to me) or should I be using a different spry feature, I would like to have text and an image in the content box under each tab just for overall effect.
I'm quite inexperienced with CSS and Javascripting and have basically gotten this far with trial and error modifying the CSS settings but I'm unable to modify the javascript on my own.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Below is my tabbed panels css:
.TabbedPanels {
overflow: hidden;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
clear: none;
width: 1000px; /* IE Hack to force proper layout when preceded by a paragraph. (hasLayout Bug)*/
-webkit-transition: all;
-moz-transition: all;
-ms-transition: all;
-o-transition: all;
transition: all;
.TabbedPanelsTabGroup {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
color: #FFF;
background-color: #000;
width: 1000px;
height: 25px;
.TabbedPanelsTab {
position: relative;
top: 0px;
float: left;
padding: 4px 21px;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-color: #000;
list-style: none;
border-left: solid 0px #000;
border-bottom: solid 0px #000;
border-top: solid 2px #000;
border-right: solid 0px #000;
-moz-user-select: none;
-khtml-user-select: none;
cursor: pointer;
width: 1000;
height: 15px;
font-family: "Myriad Pro";
font-size: 1em;
font-weight: normal;
.TabbedPanelsTabHover {
background-color: #D31145;
-webkit-transition: all;
-moz-transition: all;
-ms-transition: all;
-o-transition: all;
transition: all;
.TabbedPanelsTabSelected {
background-color: #D31145;
border-bottom: 0px solid #D31145;
color: #FFFFFF;
.TabbedPanelsTab a {
color: black;
text-decoration: none;
.TabbedPanelsContentGroup {
clear: both;
border-left: solid 2px #D31145;
border-bottom: solid 2px #D31145;
border-top: solid 2px #D31145;
border-right: solid 2px #D31145;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
visibility: visible;
width: 50%;
position: inherit;
height: auto;
/* This is the selector for the Content panel. The Content panel holds the
* content for a single tabbed panel. For our default style, this container
* provides some padding, so that the content is not pushed up against the
* widget borders.
* The name of the class ("TabbedPanelsContent") used in this selector is
* not necessary to make the widget function. You can use any class name you
* want to style the Content container.
.TabbedPanelsContent {
overflow: hidden;
padding: 4px;
.TabbedPanelsContentVisible {
.VTabbedPanels {
overflow: hidden;
zoom: 1;
.VTabbedPanels .TabbedPanelsTabGroup {
float: left;
width: 10em;
height: 20em;
background-color: #EEE;
position: relative;
border-top: solid 1px #999;
border-right: solid 1px #999;
border-left: solid 1px #CCC;
border-bottom: solid 1px #CCC;
.VTabbedPanels .TabbedPanelsTab {
float: none;
margin: 0px;
border-top: none;
border-left: none;
border-right: none;
.VTabbedPanels .TabbedPanelsTabSelected {
background-color: #EEE;
border-bottom: solid 1px #999;
.VTabbedPanels .TabbedPanelsContentGroup {
clear: none;
float: left;
padding: 0px;
width: 30em;
height: 20em;
/* Styles for Printing */
@media print {
.TabbedPanels {
overflow: visible !important;
.TabbedPanelsContentGroup {
display: block !important;
overflow: visible !important;
height: auto !important;
.TabbedPanelsContent {
overflow: visible !important;
display: block !important;
clear:both !important;
.TabbedPanelsTab {
  overflow: visible !important;
  display: block !important;
  clear:both !important;
THe Javascript for my tabbed panels are below:
// SpryTabbedPanels.js - version 0.7 - Spry Pre-Release 1.6.1
// Copyright (c) 2006. Adobe Systems Incorporated.
// All rights reserved.
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
//   * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
//     this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
//   * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
//     this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
//     and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
//   * Neither the name of Adobe Systems Incorporated nor the names of its
//     contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
//     software without specific prior written permission.
// THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
// AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
// IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
// ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
// LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
// CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
// SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
// INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
// CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
// ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
// POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
(function() { // BeginSpryComponent
if (typeof Spry == "undefined") window.Spry = {}; if (!Spry.Widget) Spry.Widget = {};
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels = function(element, opts)
this.element = this.getElement(element);
this.defaultTab = 0; // Show the first panel by default.
this.tabSelectedClass = "TabbedPanelsTabSelected";
this.tabHoverClass = "TabbedPanelsTabHover";
this.tabFocusedClass = "TabbedPanelsTabFocused";
this.panelVisibleClass = "TabbedPanelsContentVisible";
this.focusElement = null;
this.hasFocus = false;
this.currentTabIndex = 0;
this.enableKeyboardNavigation = true;
this.nextPanelKeyCode = Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_RIGHT;
this.previousPanelKeyCode = Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_LEFT;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.setOptions(this, opts);
// If the defaultTab is expressed as a number/index, convert
// it to an element.
if (typeof (this.defaultTab) == "number")
  if (this.defaultTab < 0)
   this.defaultTab = 0;
  else
   var count = this.getTabbedPanelCount();
   if (this.defaultTab >= count)
    this.defaultTab = (count > 1) ? (count - 1) : 0;
  this.defaultTab = this.getTabs()[this.defaultTab];
// The defaultTab property is supposed to be the tab element for the tab content
// to show by default. The caller is allowed to pass in the element itself or the
// element's id, so we need to convert the current value to an element if necessary.
if (this.defaultTab)
  this.defaultTab = this.getElement(this.defaultTab);
this.attachBehaviors();
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getElement = function(ele)
if (ele && typeof ele == "string")
  return document.getElementById(ele);
return ele;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getElementChildren = function(element)
var children = [];
var child = element.firstChild;
while (child)
  if (child.nodeType == 1 /* Node.ELEMENT_NODE */)
   children.push(child);
  child = child.nextSibling;
return children;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.addClassName = function(ele, className)
if (!ele || !className || (ele.className && ele.className.search(new RegExp("\\b" + className + "\\b")) != -1))
  return;
ele.className += (ele.className ? " " : "") + className;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.removeClassName = function(ele, className)
if (!ele || !className || (ele.className && ele.className.search(new RegExp("\\b" + className + "\\b")) == -1))
  return;
ele.className = ele.className.replace(new RegExp("\\s*\\b" + className + "\\b", "g"), "");
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.setOptions = function(obj, optionsObj, ignoreUndefinedProps)
if (!optionsObj)
  return;
for (var optionName in optionsObj)
  if (ignoreUndefinedProps && optionsObj[optionName] == undefined)
   continue;
  obj[optionName] = optionsObj[optionName];
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getTabGroup = function()
if (this.element)
  var children = this.getElementChildren(this.element);
  if (children.length)
   return children[0];
return null;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getTabs = function()
var tabs = [];
var tg = this.getTabGroup();
if (tg)
  tabs = this.getElementChildren(tg);
return tabs;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getContentPanelGroup = function()
if (this.element)
  var children = this.getElementChildren(this.element);
  if (children.length > 1)
   return children[1];
return null;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getContentPanels = function()
var panels = [];
var pg = this.getContentPanelGroup();
if (pg)
  panels = this.getElementChildren(pg);
return panels;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getIndex = function(ele, arr)
ele = this.getElement(ele);
if (ele && arr && arr.length)
  for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
   if (ele == arr[i])
    return i;
return -1;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getTabIndex = function(ele)
var i = this.getIndex(ele, this.getTabs());
if (i < 0)
  i = this.getIndex(ele, this.getContentPanels());
return i;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getCurrentTabIndex = function()
return this.currentTabIndex;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.getTabbedPanelCount = function(ele)
return Math.min(this.getTabs().length, this.getContentPanels().length);
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener = function(element, eventType, handler, capture)
try
  if (element.addEventListener)
   element.addEventListener(eventType, handler, capture);
  else if (element.attachEvent)
   element.attachEvent("on" + eventType, handler);
catch (e) {}
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.cancelEvent = function(e)
if (e.preventDefault) e.preventDefault();
else e.returnValue = false;
if (e.stopPropagation) e.stopPropagation();
else e.cancelBubble = true;
return false;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabClick = function(e, tab)
this.showPanel(tab);
return this.cancelEvent(e);
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabMouseOver = function(e, tab)
this.addClassName(tab, this.tabHoverClass);
return false;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabMouseOut = function(e, tab)
this.removeClassName(tab, this.tabHoverClass);
return false;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabFocus = function(e, tab)
this.hasFocus = true;
this.addClassName(tab, this.tabFocusedClass);
return false;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabBlur = function(e, tab)
this.hasFocus = false;
this.removeClassName(tab, this.tabFocusedClass);
return false;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_UP = 38;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_DOWN = 40;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_LEFT = 37;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.KEY_RIGHT = 39;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.onTabKeyDown = function(e, tab)
var key = e.keyCode;
if (!this.hasFocus || (key != this.previousPanelKeyCode && key != this.nextPanelKeyCode))
  return true;
var tabs = this.getTabs();
for (var i =0; i < tabs.length; i++)
  if (tabs[i] == tab)
   var el = false;
   if (key == this.previousPanelKeyCode && i > 0)
    el = tabs[i-1];
   else if (key == this.nextPanelKeyCode && i < tabs.length-1)
    el = tabs[i+1];
   if (el)
    this.showPanel(el);
    el.focus();
    break;
return this.cancelEvent(e);
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.preorderTraversal = function(root, func)
var stopTraversal = false;
if (root)
  stopTraversal = func(root);
  if (root.hasChildNodes())
   var child = root.firstChild;
   while (!stopTraversal && child)
    stopTraversal = this.preorderTraversal(child, func);
    try { child = child.nextSibling; } catch (e) { child = null; }
return stopTraversal;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.addPanelEventListeners = function(tab, panel)
var self = this;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener(tab, "mouseover", function(e) { self.onTabClick(e, tab);return self.onTabMouseOver(e, tab); }, false);
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener(tab, "mouseout", function(e) { return self.onTabMouseOut(e, tab); }, false);
if (this.enableKeyboardNavigation)
  // XXX: IE doesn't allow the setting of tabindex dynamically. This means we can't
  // rely on adding the tabindex attribute if it is missing to enable keyboard navigation
  // by default.
  // Find the first element within the tab container that has a tabindex or the first
  // anchor tag.
  var tabIndexEle = null;
  var tabAnchorEle = null;
  this.preorderTraversal(tab, function(node) {
   if (node.nodeType == 1 /* NODE.ELEMENT_NODE */)
    var tabIndexAttr = tab.attributes.getNamedItem("tabindex");
    if (tabIndexAttr)
     tabIndexEle = node;
     return true;
    if (!tabAnchorEle && node.nodeName.toLowerCase() == "a")
     tabAnchorEle = node;
   return false;
  if (tabIndexEle)
   this.focusElement = tabIndexEle;
  else if (tabAnchorEle)
   this.focusElement = tabAnchorEle;
  if (this.focusElement)
   Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener(this.focusElement, "focus", function(e) { return self.onTabFocus(e, tab); }, false);
   Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener(this.focusElement, "blur", function(e) { return self.onTabBlur(e, tab); }, false);
   Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.addEventListener(this.focusElement, "keydown", function(e) { return self.onTabKeyDown(e, tab); }, false);
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.showPanel = function(elementOrIndex)
var tpIndex = -1;
if (typeof elementOrIndex == "number")
  tpIndex = elementOrIndex;
else // Must be the element for the tab or content panel.
  tpIndex = this.getTabIndex(elementOrIndex);
if (!tpIndex < 0 || tpIndex >= this.getTabbedPanelCount())
  return;
var tabs = this.getTabs();
var panels = this.getContentPanels();
var numTabbedPanels = Math.max(tabs.length, panels.length);
for (var i = 0; i < numTabbedPanels; i++)
  if (i != tpIndex)
   if (tabs[i])
    this.removeClassName(tabs[i], this.tabSelectedClass);
   if (panels[i])
    this.removeClassName(panels[i], this.panelVisibleClass);
    panels[i].style.display = "none";
this.addClassName(tabs[tpIndex], this.tabSelectedClass);
this.addClassName(panels[tpIndex], this.panelVisibleClass);
panels[tpIndex].style.display = "block";
this.currentTabIndex = tpIndex;
Spry.Widget.TabbedPanels.prototype.attachBehaviors = function(element)
var tabs = this.getTabs();
var panels = this.getContentPanels();
var panelCount = this.getTabbedPanelCount();
for (var i = 0; i < panelCount; i++)
  this.addPanelEventListeners(tabs[i], panels[i]);
this.showPanel(this.defaultTab);
})(); // EndSpryComponent

Answer 1

Note - I agree with Nancy
As for your experiment, to prevent the "drop" reduce the spry CSS padding in line 76 selector from  21px to 18px.
.TabbedPanelsTab {
    -moz-user-select: none;
    background-color: #000000;
    border-color: #000000;
    border-left: 0 solid #000000;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 2px 0 0;
    cursor: pointer;
    float: left;
    font-family: "Myriad Pro";
    font-size: 1em;
    font-weight: normal;
    height: 15px;
    list-style: none outside none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 4px 18px;
    position: relative;
    top: 0;
Don't use dummy text without normal length text with breaks