css positioning drop down under parent - html

Question

I have a dropdown list item in my navbar and can't get the dropdown section to align underneath the parent link. I am trying to use just css and know I've done it before, it's just stumping me at the moment. None of the other examples I've come across use the same menu format so it's been troubling trying to force fit pieces of code. Please help me with this easy solution
HTML
<div id="navbar">
<li>Home</li><!--
--><li>Link2</li><!--
--><li>Link3</li><!--
--><li><a href="#">Link4
<ul>
<li>SubLink1</li><br />
<li>SubLink2</li><br />
<li>SubLink3</li><br />
<li>SubLink4</li>
</ul>
</a></li><!--
--><li>Link5</li>
</div>
CSS
#navbar {
width:75%;
margin:0px auto;
text-align:right;
position:relative;
top:218px;
}
#navbar li {
list-style:none;
display:inline;
position:relative;
}
#navbar a {
background-color:#862D59;
font-size:18px;
width:60px;
margin:0px;
padding:10px 15px;
color:#FFF;
text-decoration:none;
text-align:center;
}
#navbar a:hover {
background-color:#602040;
border-bottom:solid 4px #969;
}
#navbar li ul {
display:none;
}
#navbar li:hover ul {
position:absolute;
display:block;
}
Working Example
https://jsfiddle.net/o6Ldutp5/

Answer 1

Firstly, you should use a reset css of some kind to remove the default margin / padding attached to ul & li.
Then validate your HTML, it contained a number of errors such as missing the opening ul etc.
Then it's just a matter of using position:absolute and appropriate values.
top:100% will place the menu directly below the li parent (with position:relative) regardless of the height of the li.
left:0 will align the left edge of the submenu to the left side of the parent li.
#navbar {
margin: 0px auto;
text-align: right;
}
ul,
li {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
#navbar li {
list-style: none;
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
}
#navbar a {
background-color: #862D59;
font-size: 18px;
width: 60px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 10px 15px;
color: #FFF;
text-decoration: none;
text-align: center;
display: block;
}
#navbar a:hover {
background-color: #602040;
border-bottom: solid 4px #969;
}
#navbar li ul {
display: none;
position: absolute;
top: 100%;
left: 0;
}
#navbar li:hover ul {
display: block;
}
<div id="navbar">
<ul>
<li>Home
</li>
<li>Link2
</li>
<li>Link3
</li>
<li>Link4
<ul>
<li>SubLink1
</li>
<li>SubLink2
</li>
<li>SubLink3
</li>
<li>SubLink4
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Link5
</li>
</ul>
</div>

Answer 2

I've written my own minimal CSS without the styling, try replacing your whole CSS with this -
I've also edited your HTML by removing the comments and <br /> tags
div#navbar li {
display: inline-block;
}
div#navbar li ul {
width: 200px;
position: absolute;
display: none;
top: 10px;
}
div#navbar li ul li {
display: block;
width: 150px;
}
div#navbar li:hover ul {
display: block;
}
ul,ol,li {
margin-left: 0;
padding-left: 0;
}
Here is the fiddle