Setting <li> background to full width + centering vertical height, possible?

Question

to cut to the chase:

I have a vertical menu-bar and I want to have an <li> element with full background color + vertical align. I've seen here someone recommending adding the vertical-align: middle; won't suffice and I would need to add a display: table-cell; but that doesn't really help vertical menus.

HTML

<div class="sidebar">
  <img src="img/Logo.png">
<ul>
  <li><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-home" style="color: white;"></span><a href="#">Home</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

CSS:

.sidebar{
  width:150px;
  background-color: #0e1a35;
  height: 100%;
}
.sidebar > img:nth-child(1){
  width: 70%;
  display:block;
  margin:auto;
  padding: 5px  ;

}

.sidebar > ul {
  list-style: none;
  padding:0;
  margin:0;
  width: 100%;
}

.sidebar > ul > li{
  text-decoration: none;
  background-color: #42105d;
  height:50px;
  vertical-align: middle;
  float: none;
  width: 100%;


  text-align: left;
  border-left: #5584ff 4px solid;
}
.sidebar > ul > li > a{
  color: white;
  text-decoration: none;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  position: relative;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
  -webkit-box-sizing: border-box;
  display: inline-block;

}
.sidebar .glyphicon{
  margin-left: 0px;
  margin-right: 10px;
}

So my question is how to have the <li> vertical aligned with a background color covering the <li> without changing the padding/margin of the <li>

Answer 1

• HTML: Wrap icon and all inside the A element
• Don't style the LI
• Focus styling the Anchor element instead
• For vertical alignment you can use line-height to match the actual height

@import url("//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css");

*{box-sizing: border-box;}
body{margin:0;}

.sidebar{
  width:150px;
}
.sidebar ul{
  margin:0;
  padding:0;
}
.sidebar a{
  text-decoration:none;
  display:block;
  background: #42105d;
  color:#fff;
  border-left: #5584ff 4px solid;
  height:50px;
  line-height:50px;
  padding: 0 8px;
}

<div class="sidebar">
  <ul>
    <li>
      <a href="#"> <!-- WRAP ALL INSIDE THE ANCHOR! -->
        <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-home" style="color: white;"></span> Home
      </a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div>

Here's an example without using line-height and height but instead playing with A's padding:

@import url("//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css");

*{box-sizing: border-box;}
body{margin:0;}

.sidebar ul{
  width:150px;
  margin:0;
  padding:0;
}
.sidebar a{
  text-decoration:none;
  display:block;
  background: #42105d;
  color:#fff;
  border-left: #5584ff 4px solid;
  padding: 16px 8px;
}

<div class="sidebar">
  <ul>
    <li>
      <a href="#">
        <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-home" style="color: white;"></span> Home
      </a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">
        <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user" style="color: white;"></span> About
      </a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">
        <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-envelope" style="color: white;"></span> Contact
      </a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div>