CSS3 transition issue in navigation - html

Question

I would like to use pure css3 effects without using jQuery and I would like to make the tab expand smoothly using css3 transition, but there is a problem.
If you look at the jsfiddle file you will notice a problem with the overlapping and crashing of tabs .
This is my HTML code:
<div id="wrapper">
<nav id="mainnav">
<ol>
<li class="home"></li>
<li class="news">News</li>
<li class="photos">Photos </li>
<li class="biography">Biography</li>
</ol>
</nav>
</div>
and the CSS code:
div#wrapper{
width:990px;
height:auto;
margin:0 auto;
font:15px Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav{
width:100%;
height:40px;
border-bottom:1px solid #c4c4c4;
float:left;
clear:both;
background-color: #5b5b5b;
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(#5b5b5b,#4d4d4d,#3f3f3f);
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(#5b5b5b,#4d4d4d,#3f3f3f);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(#5b5b5b,#4d4d4d,#3f3f3f);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(#5b5b5b,#4d4d4d,#3f3f3f);
background-image: linear-gradient(#5b5b5b,#4d4d4d,#3f3f3f);
}
div#wrapper #mainnav ol{
list-style:none;
margin:0px; padding:0;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li{
float:left;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.home{
background: #6db3f2; /* Old browsers */
background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%, #54a3ee 40%, #3690f0 56%, #1e69de 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#6db3f2), color-stop(40%,#54a3ee), color-stop(56%,#3690f0), color-stop(100%,#1e69de)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* IE10+ */
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* W3C */
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#6db3f2', endColorstr='#1e69de',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
float:left;
width:48px;
height:40px;
position:relative;
margin-top:0px ; padding:0;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.home a{
background:url(home.png) 0px 0px no-repeat;
margin-left:0px;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.home:hover{
background: #6db3f2; /* Old browsers */
background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%, #54a3ee 40%, #3690f0 56%, #1e69de 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#6db3f2), color-stop(40%,#54a3ee), color-stop(56%,#3690f0), color-stop(100%,#1e69de)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* IE10+ */
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* W3C */
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#6db3f2', endColorstr='#1e69de',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
float:left;
width:48px;
height:40px;
position:relative;
margin-top:0px ; padding:0;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.home a:hover{
background:url(home.png) 0px 0px no-repeat;
margin-left:0px;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.news:hover{
cursor:pointer;
border:1px solid #b30808; background-color: #e40a0a;
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#e40a0a), color-stop(100%, #9f0202));
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #e40a0a, #9f0202);
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #e40a0a, #9f0202);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #e40a0a, #9f0202);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #e40a0a, #9f0202);
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #e40a0a, #9f0202);filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(GradientType=0,startColorstr=#e40a0a, endColorstr=#9f0202);
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.news a:hover{
background:url(awatch_icon.png) 5px 6px no-repeat;
padding-top:9px;
text-shadow:1px 1px 1px blue;border-left:1px solid #000;
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.photos:hover{
background: #6db3f2; /* Old browsers */
background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%, #54a3ee 40%, #3690f0 56%, #1e69de 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#6db3f2), color- stop(40%,#54a3ee), color-stop(56%,#3690f0), color-stop(100%,#1e69de)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* IE10+ */
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #6db3f2 0%,#54a3ee 40%,#3690f0 56%,#1e69de 100%); /* W3C */
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#6db3f2', endColorstr='#1e69de',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.photos a:hover{
background:url(domain_icon.png) 5px 6px no-repeat;padding-top:10px;text-shadow:1px 1px 1px blue;}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.biography:hover{
background-color: #ffaf46;
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#ffaf46), color-stop(100%, #e78404));
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #ffaf46, #e78404);
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #ffaf46, #e78404);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #ffaf46, #e78404);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #ffaf46, #e78404);
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #ffaf46, #e78404);filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(GradientType=0,startColorstr=#ffaf46, endColorstr=#e78404);
}
div#wrapper #mainnav li.biography a:hover{
background:url(icon.png) 5px 6px no-repeat;padding-top:10px;text-shadow:1px 1px 1px blue;}
div#wrapper #mainnav li{background:url(mainnav_sep.jpg) no-repeat left top;float:left;}
div#wrapper #mainnav li a{display:block;padding-top:11px;color:#fff;margin:0 10px;cursor:pointer;height:27px;text-shadow:1px 1px 1px #000;}
div#wrapper #mainnav li a:link, div#wrapper #mainnav li a:visited{text-decoration:none;}
div#wrapper #mainnav li a:hover,div#wrapper #mainnav li a:active, div#wrapper #mainnav li a:focus {
transition:width 2s;
-moz-transition:width 2s; /* Firefox 4 */
-webkit-transition:width 2s; /* Safari and Chrome */
-o-transition:width 2s; /* Opera */
width:120px;height:29px;margin:0px 0px 0px 0px ;text-indent:35px;text- decoration:none;color:#fff;text-shadow:1px 1px 1px #000;}

Answer 1

It is because you are giving transition effect to <a> element, try giving it to <li> element and change the widths...
Simply try something like this
HTML
<ul>
<li>blah</li>
<li>blah2</li>
</ul>​
CSS
ul li:nth-child(1){
background-color: #ff0000;
}
ul li:nth-child(2){
background-color: #00ff00;
}
li {
display: inline-block;
height: 20px;
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
transition:width 2s;
-moz-transition:width 2s; /* Firefox 4 */
-webkit-transition:width 2s; /* Safari and Chrome */
-o-transition:width 2s; /* Opera */
}
li:hover {
width: 300px;
}​