A dedicated sidebar navigation is standard for dashboards and web apps. This tutorial shows how to build a clean, collapsible sidebar using CSS Flexbox.

HTML Layout

<div class="sidebar">
  <div class="logo-details">
    <i class="icon">💻</i>
    <span class="logo_name">AdminUI</span>
  </div>
  <ul class="nav-links">
    <li>
      <a href="#" class="active">
        <i class="icon">📊</i>
        <span class="link_name">Dashboard</span>
      </a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">
        <i class="icon">👥</i>
        <span class="link_name">Users</span>
      </a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">
        <i class="icon">⚙️</i>
        <span class="link_name">Settings</span>
      </a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div>

CSS Styling

.sidebar {
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  height: 100%;
  width: 260px;
  background: #111827;
  padding: 20px 14px;
  transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

.logo-details {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  color: #fff;
  font-size: 20px;
  font-weight: 700;
  margin-bottom: 30px;
  padding-left: 10px;
}

.nav-links {
  list-style: none;
}

.nav-links li {
  margin-bottom: 8px;
}

.nav-links li a {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  color: #94a3b8;
  font-size: 15px;
  font-weight: 500;
  padding: 12px 14px;
  border-radius: 10px;
  text-decoration: none;
  transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

.nav-links li a:hover,
.nav-links li a.active {
  color: #fff;
  background: #3b82f6;
}

.nav-links li a .icon {
  font-size: 18px;
  margin-right: 14px;
}

Check the demo to see how we handle collapsing the sidebar on smaller screens!