CSS - pseudo-element

Question

I have some troubles with CSS. I need menu element like on the picture. The problem is I can't get green rectangle with pseudo-element. If you know non-javascript solution or have some examples I will be glad to help.

HTML

<li class="current">
   <a href="#section-2">Lorem Ipsum/a>
</li>

CSS

.current {
    background: red;
    &.current:after {
      content: "";
      height: 2.5em;
      margin-top: -1.25em;
      position: absolute;
      background: #ddd;
      right: -1em;
      width: 2.5em;
      z-index: 1;
    }
}

Jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/vCQZ6/1/

Answer 1

Here is a simple example using border-right. For a simple effect like that green rectangle (which in fact is a border) this approach is preferrable to using a pseudo-element.

HTML

<ul class="menu">
    <li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 2</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Item 3</a></li>
</ul>

CSS

.menu {
    list-style: none;
    background: #555;
    width: 200px;
    padding: 1em 0;
}

.menu a {
    padding: 0.5em 1em;
    display: block;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: white;
    font-family: 'sans-serif';
}

.menu a:hover, .menu a:focus {
    background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
    border-right: 5px solid lightgreen;
}

FIDDLE