How do I vertically align elements within a li in that code?

Question

I want to vertically align the a links 1-4 under the class dropdown-menu.

In this example I'm trying to do this by displaying the div as a table-row but nothing worked.

CODE

body {
  font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif;
  max-width: 960px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 20px;
}
ul {
  list-style-type: none;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  background-color: #1ebb90;
  overflow: hidden;
}
li {
  float: left;
}
li a,
.dropdown-btn {
  display: inline-block;
  padding: 18px 22px;
}
div {
  display: table-row;
}
div a {
  display: inline;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

<ul>
  <li><a href="#">Home</a>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">About</a>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Blog</a>
  </li>
  <li class="dropdown">

    <a href="#" class="dropdown-btn">Dropdown</a>

    <div class="dropdown-menu">
      <a href="#">Link 1</a>
      <a href="#">Link 2</a>
      <a href="#">Link 3</a>
      <a href="#">Link 4</a>
    </div>

  </li>

</ul>

Answer 1

• use inline-block in li

• change your HTML to be semantically correct to a menu, by using ul li in dropdown

• apply to your dropdown position:absolute and top:100% with relative to li

• if you want to make it show/hide, you can use :hover in li

body {
  font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif;
  max-width: 960px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 20px;
}
ul {
  list-style-type: none;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  background-color: #1ebb90;
}
li {
  display: inline-block;
  vertical-align: top;
  position: relative
}
li a,
.dropdown-btn {
  display: block;
  padding: 18px 22px;
}
li ul {
  position: absolute;
  top: 100%;
  left: 0;
  background: red;
  display: block;
  width: 100%;
  text-align: center;
  display: none
}
li:hover ul {
  display: block
}

<ul>
  <li><a href="#">Home</a>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">About</a>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Blog</a>
  </li>
  <li class="dropdown">
    <a href="#" class="dropdown-btn">Dropdown</a>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
      <li> <a href="#">Link 1</a>
      </li>
      <li> <a href="#">Link 2</a>
      </li>
      <li> <a href="#">Link 3</a>
      </li>
      <li> <a href="#">Link 4</a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

Answer 2

[1] Get rid of overflow: hidden on the ul

[2] Make the dropdown absolutely positioned:

.dropdown-menu {
  position: absolute;
  top: 100%;
  left: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
}

[3] Establish the li as the parent.

li {
  ...
  position: relative;
}

[4] Set up a hovering rule over the anchor next to the hidden dropdown menu.

.dropdown:hover .dropdown-menu {
  visibility: visible;
}

Demo: https://jsfiddle.net/b3gbowrn/

body {
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif;
max-width: 960px;                       
margin: 0 auto;                         
padding: 20px;                    
}

ul {
list-style-type: none;             
margin:0;
padding: 0;
background-color: #1ebb90; 
}

li {
float: left;
position: relative;
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
border-right: none;
}

li:last-child {
  border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.25);   
}

.dropdown:hover .dropdown-menu {
  visibility: visible;
}

.dropdown-menu {
  position: absolute;
  top: 100%;
  left: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
}

li a, .dropdown-btn {                  
display: inline-block;
padding: 18px 22px;

}

div {
display: table-row;
}

div a {
display: inline;
vertical-align: middle;
}

    <ul>
        <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">About</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Blog</a></li>
        <li class="dropdown">

            <a href="#" class="dropdown-btn">Dropdown</a>

            <div class="dropdown-menu">                      
                <a href="#">Link 1</a>
                <a href="#">Link 2</a>
                <a href="#">Link 3</a>
                <a href="#">Link 4</a>
            </div>

        </li>

    </ul>

Answer 3

There are different ways to do it, but one simple way is to use display: block on the links. (fiddle)

Here's a related question/answer related to how inline vs block work.