CSS Diamond shape centric website issues - html

Question

I've got an audacious project and would like some advice. I want to have a site that uses CSS Diamonds, I've attached an image to give a better idea of what I am looking at doing. Here are the issues I have run into so far:
The triangles are perfectly aligned until a submenu is added, then the right three shift to the right (this was working at one point). Also the li in which the submenu is under loses its diamond
The text on the submenu diamonds are not centered.
I cannot have the background image, then diamond then title. I have tried different z-indexs and it hasn't worked. (To see the menu titles, the background image needs to be removed, and the diamonds need to be -1 z-indexed)
Because I need to use spans to create the triangle text wrapping for the sidebar I cannot just make the sidebar div a diamond, so I still need to add the diamond in below it.
It would be great to have both the right text body and the sidebar text body wrap to the diamond, however I think this is not possible, therefore I reverted to just having the sidebar wrap.
Here is my HTML so far: I have commented out the submenu and my sidebar diamond attempt. http://jsfiddle.net/s4XXE/
/* reset.css */
html {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
}
body,
div,
span,
object,
iframe,
h1,
h2,
h3,
h4,
h5,
h6,
p,
blockquote,
pre,
a,
abbr,
acronym,
address,
code,
del,
dfn,
em,
img,
q,
dl,
dt,
dd,
ol,
ul,
li,
fieldset,
form,
label,
legend,
table,
caption,
tbody,
tfoot,
thead,
tr,
th,
td,
article,
aside,
dialog,
figure,
footer,
header,
hgroup,
nav,
section {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
font-size: 100%;
font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline;
}
article,
aside,
details,
figcaption,
figure,
dialog,
footer,
header,
hgroup,
menu,
nav,
section {
display: block;
}
body {
line-height: 1.5;
background: white;
}
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 0;
}
caption,
th,
td {
text-align: left;
font-weight: normal;
float: none !important;
}
table,
th,
td {
vertical-align: middle;
}
blockquote:before,
blockquote:after,
q:before,
q:after {
content: '';
}
blockquote,
q {
quotes: """";
}
a img {
border: none;
}
:focus {
outline: 0;
}
/* typography.css */
html {
font-size: 100.01%;
}
body {
font-size: 75%;
color: #222;
background: #fff;
font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
h1,
h2,
h3,
h4,
h5,
h6 {
font-weight: normal;
color: #d10000;
}
h1 {
font-size: 3em;
line-height: 1;
margin-bottom: 0.5em;
}
h2 {
font-size: 2em;
margin-bottom: 0.75em;
}
h3 {
font-size: 1.5em;
line-height: 1;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}
h4 {
font-size: 1.2em;
line-height: 1.25;
margin-bottom: 1.25em;
}
h5 {
font-size: 1em;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: 1.5em;
}
h6 {
font-size: 1em;
font-weight: bold;
}
h1 img,
h2 img,
h3 img,
h4 img,
h5 img,
h6 img {
margin: 0;
}
p {
margin: 0 0 1.5em;
}
.left {
float: left !important;
}
p .left {
margin: 1.5em 1.5em 1.5em 0;
padding: 0;
}
.right {
float: right !important;
}
p .right {
margin: 1.5em 0 1.5em 1.5em;
padding: 0;
}
a:focus,
a:hover {
color: #09f;
}
a {
color: #06c;
text-decoration: underline;
}
blockquote {
margin: 1.5em;
color: #666;
font-style: italic;
}
strong,
dfn {
font-weight: bold;
}
em,
dfn {
font-style: italic;
}
sup,
sub {
line-height: 0;
}
abbr,
acronym {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #666;
}
address {
margin: 0 0 1.5em;
font-style: italic;
}
del {
color: #666;
}
pre {
margin: 1.5em 0;
white-space: pre;
}
pre,
code,
tt {
font: 1em'andale mono', 'lucida console', monospace;
line-height: 1.5;
}
li ul,
li ol {
margin: 0;
}
ul,
ol {
margin: 0 1.5em 1.5em 0;
padding-left: 1.5em;
}
ul {
list-style-type: disc;
}
ol {
list-style-type: decimal;
}
dl {
margin: 0 0 1.5em 0;
}
dl dt {
font-weight: bold;
}
dd {
margin-left: 1.5em;
}
table {
margin-bottom: 1.4em;
width: 100%;
}
th {
font-weight: bold;
}
thead th {
background: #c3d9ff;
}
th,
td,
caption {
padding: 4px 10px 4px 5px;
}
tbody tr:nth-child(even) td,
tbody tr.even td {
background: #e5ecf9;
}
tfoot {
font-style: italic;
}
caption {
background: #eee;
}
.small {
font-size: .8em;
margin-bottom: 1.875em;
line-height: 1.875em;
}
.large {
font-size: 1.2em;
line-height: 2.5em;
margin-bottom: 1.25em;
}
.hide {
display: none;
}
.quiet {
color: #666;
}
.loud {
color: #000;
}
.highlight {
background: #ff0;
}
.added {
background: #060;
color: #fff;
}
.removed {
background: #900;
color: #fff;
}
.first {
margin-left: 0;
padding-left: 0;
}
.last {
margin-right: 0;
padding-right: 0;
}
.top {
margin-top: 0;
padding-top: 0;
}
.bottom {
margin-bottom: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
}
/* Customization */
body {
background: #efefef;
margin: 0px auto;
width: 1320px;
}
#bodydiv {
width: 100%;
background-image: url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/QVfwy.png');
background-repeat: repeat;
overflow: hidden;
}
ul {
list-style: none;
position: relative;
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
padding: 0px 0px 0px 28.6em;
margin-bottom: 0px;
display: block;
}
li {
float: left;
margin: 0em -1.45em;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 2em;
}
ul li a {
color: red;
text-decoration: none;
}
ul li a:hover {
color: #eee;
text-decoration: none;
}
.triangle:after {
content: '';
position: relative;
top: 105px;
margin-left: -50%;
border: 5em solid transparent;
border-top-color: red;
z-index: 1;
}
li:nth-child(1).triangle:after {
border-top-color: blue;
}
li:nth-child(2).triangle:after {
border-top-color: green;
}
li:nth-child(3).triangle:after {
border-top-color: purple;
}
ul li ul {
font-size: .5em;
}
ul li ul a {
z-index: 1;
}
.diamond,
.diamond:after {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 4em solid transparent;
content: '';
z-index: 1;
}
.diamond {
border-bottom-color: red;
position: absolute;
top: -1em;
}
.diamond:after {
position: absolute;
margin-left: -4em;
top: 4em;
border-top-color: red;
}
.diamond.big,
.diamond.big:after {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 9em solid transparent;
content: '';
z-index: 1;
}
.diamond.big {
border-bottom-color: red;
position: absolute;
}
.diamond.big:after {
margin-left: -9em;
top: 9em;
border-top-color: red;
}
.diamond.huge,
.diamond.huge:after {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 500px solid transparent;
content: '';
z-index: 1;
}
.diamond.huge {
top: -500px;
border-bottom-color: red;
position: absolute;
}
.diamond.huge:after {
margin-left: -500px;
top: 500px;
border-top-color: red;
}
li:hover > ul li {
display: none;
}
ul ul li {
font-size: 1em;
display: block;
position: relative;
left: 1em;
margin-left: 1em;
margin-top: 1em;
}
ul ul li:nth-child(1).diamond {
border-bottom-color: orange;
top: 4em;
left: 6em;
}
ul ul li:nth-child(1).diamond:after {
border-top-color: orange;
}
ul ul li:nth-child(2).diamond {
border-bottom-color: aqua;
}
ul ul li:nth-child(2).diamond:after {
border-top-color: aqua;
}
*/
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>Triangles</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=479;">
<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
</head>
<body>
<div id="bodydiv">
<ul>
<li class="current index triangle submenu">Home
<!--
<ul><li class="diamond">subpage 1</li><li class="diamond">subpage 2</li></ul>
-->
</li>
<li class="about triangle">Home
</li>
<li class="contact triangle">Home
</li>
<li class="other triangle">Home
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<h1>
Heading for the page
</h1>
<div style="width:60%; float:left;">
<p style="font-size:1em; color:black;">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur at tellus ipsum. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Nunc et erat magna. Aenean volutpat ultrices quam nec vestibulum. Nullam
quis ante vel tellus mattis laoreet. Duis vehicula est id lorem consequat pretium. Suspendisse potenti.
</p>
<p style="font-size:1em; color:black;">
Donec ut nunc ante, vel elementum ante. Vivamus mattis ornare fermentum. Quisque vitae justo quam. Cras nunc odio, sodales a condimentum id, laoreet sed neque. Integer adipiscing placerat sollicitudin. Etiam posuere, lacus ut bibendum mattis, nibh urna
ullamcorper nibh, vitae blandit massa nunc ac augue. Aliquam mollis aliquam magna eget rutrum. Suspendisse iaculis placerat dolor, at venenatis eros rutrum non. Phasellus pretium risus ac nisi sollicitudin sit amet adipiscing nisl malesuada. Cras
nisi nunc, hendrerit at elementum in, auctor a ligula. Maecenas pharetra condimentum aliquam. Nulla et ultricies nisi. Donec vitae neque ac augue iaculis pretium nec sed ipsum. Sed gravida facilisis congue. Nullam lobortis interdum augue ac venenatis.
Sed luctus turpis sed urna sollicitudin imperdiet.
</p>
<p style="font-size:1em; color:black;">
Nam lectus lacus, ultricies non placerat in, consectetur lacinia urna. Duis orci eros, porta nec tempus vitae, sollicitudin ac massa. Nam porta dignissim bibendum. Aenean hendrerit lacinia nisi vel viverra. Maecenas eu mi orci, vel laoreet massa. Fusce
rhoncus, tellus eu consectetur eleifend, lacus enim ultricies diam, ut rutrum mauris dolor nec nibh. Suspendisse tincidunt neque vitae ligula adipiscing consectetur quis et nisl. Fusce eu sem diam. Aenean iaculis laoreet lacus, a vulputate augue
egestas ut. Donec fringilla nisi sit amet arcu convallis in egestas nisl imperdiet. Nam interdum dolor nec nibh auctor eget sollicitudin orci iaculis. Proin turpis sem, ultricies facilisis euismod in, mattis in justo. Morbi feugiat semper blandit.
Quisque tincidunt semper sodales. Nullam suscipit tempor gravida.
</p>
<p style="font-size:1em; color:black;">
Vivamus eu diam id libero rhoncus ultrices ut eu lectus. Praesent diam elit, luctus a lobortis ac, faucibus in nisl. Duis id est purus, a condimentum leo. Quisque gravida metus sed arcu placerat nec convallis quam blandit. Cras laoreet vulputate sem et
consectetur. Curabitur felis erat, auctor vitae eleifend id, suscipit eget sapien. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam porttitor ultricies tortor in tincidunt.
</p>
<p style="font-size:1em; color:black;">
In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed erat leo, cursus vel pellentesque quis, pretium quis mi. Integer interdum neque non nisi luctus sollicitudin pellentesque nunc consectetur. Fusce auctor bibendum porta. Donec in est lacus, in luctus purus. Proin consectetur
molestie urna, eu laoreet ligula pellentesque eget. Cras at magna sit amet lacus consectetur viverra. Mauris sed faucibus nisl.
</p>
<style>
.lW {
float: left;
clear: left;
height: 18px;
}
.rW {
float: right;
clear: right;
height: 18px;
}
</style>
</div>
<div style="font-size:1em; color:black; width:40%; float:right;" class="sidebardiamond">
<div class="diamond big" style="position:relative; left:301px; top:-150px;">What is ACM?</div>
<div class="lW" style="width:78%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:74.6%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:71.2%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:67.8%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:64.4%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:61%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:57.6%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:54.2%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:50.8%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:47.4%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:44%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:40.6%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:44.4%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:47.8%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:51.2%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:54.6%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:58%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:61.4%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:64.8%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:68.2%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:71.6%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:75%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:78.4%;"></div>
<div class="lW" style="width:81.8%;"></div>
In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed erat leo, cursus vel pellentesque quis, pretium quis mi. Integer interdum neque non nisi luctus sollicitudin pellentesque nunc consectetur. Fusce auctor bibendum porta. Donec in est lacus, in luctus purus. Proin consectetur
molestie urna, eu laoreet ligula pellentesque eget. Cras at magna sit amet lacus consectetur viverra. Mauris sed faucibus nisl.</div>
<!--<div class="diamond huge" style="position:relative; left:5px; top:150px;"></div>
<br>-->
</div>
</body>
</html>

Answer 1

Good news! I have solved most of my issues. Here is my updated jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/s4XXE/1/ I will continue to work on fixing all issues. Any assistance would be helpful.
FIXED: I used the submenu class to correct the offset that was caused by the addition of a submenu.
FIXED: The titles do show up now. I think I added display:relative; to the CSS so that it accepted the z-index
FIXED: Changed the triangles on the menu to before instead of after so the triangles still show up on the menus with submenus.
BUG: The submenus are shown when the mouse gets close to the menu item. It should just be showing the submenus when the mouse is on the triangle.
BUG: On the menu items a link is only 'valid' when the mouse is over the text. It would be nice to have it 'valid' when it is over the shape.
BUG: The titles on the submenus and sidebar title are still not centered.
BUG: Changing the "Home" titles messes everything up. (need to adjust for changing content)