The target selector does not work the way you are expecting I think. What you describe is, to my knowledge, not possible in css.
New Answer
I reread your question and realized you were seeking this for mobile browsers. They may not be recognizing pointer-events either. This new solution does not rely on pointer-events except as an enhancement, but does require a bit more mark up. So far I have tested in FF, Chrome, and IE8/9, and it works well. (I'm curious if my zero opacity on the hover-shield may need to be 0.01 in some browsers). You'll have to test your mobile application.
HTML
<div class="hidden-nav">
<div class="nav-expander"></div>
<div class="hover-shield"></div>
<ul class="top-nav">
<li>
<a href=#>Textlinks Adv</a>
</li>
<li class="nav-current">
<a href=#>Textlinks Publ</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href=#>Google Shopping</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
CSS
.hidden-nav {
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
}
.nav-expander { /* the activator arrow container */
width: 16px;
height: 8px;
position: absolute;
top: 5px;
right: 2px;
z-index: 4;
}
.nav-expander:before { /* the activator arrow */
content: '';
display: block;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 8px solid transparent;
border-right: 8px solid transparent;
border-top: 8px solid blue;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
}
.hover-shield { /* keep activation by the arrow only */
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
z-index: 2;
background-color: white; /* needs background to act as hover shield */
filter: alpha(opacity=0); /* no opacity needed */
-moz-opacity: 0;
opacity: 0;
}
.nav-expander:hover + .hover-shield {
z-index: 0;
}
.top-nav {
padding-right: 20px; /* make space for arrow */
background-color: yellow;
position: relative;
z-index: 1;
}
.top-nav:hover {
z-index: 3;
}
.top-nav li {
display: block; /*not "none" as we want widest li to size the nav*/
visibility: hidden;
height: 0;
white-space: nowrap; /*keep the link text in one line*/
}
.top-nav .nav-current {
visibility: visible;
height: auto;
pointer-events: none; /* for browsers that recognize it, the user is prevented from reclicking the page they are on */
}
.nav-expander:hover ~ .top-nav,
.top-nav:hover {
height: auto; /*once triggered, let it be its height*/
}
/*show the nav if expander is hovered, or once that is done, the nave itself is hovered */
.nav-expander:hover ~ .top-nav li,
.top-nav:hover li {
visibility: visible;
height: auto;
}
Original Answer
However, I have worked up a pure css solution using hover on the arrow that works great in FF and Chrome (tested), works okay in IE8/9 (it does not recognize the pointer-events property on the nav-current, so it opens nav on hover of the nav-current); IE7 works like IE8/9 only without the arrow since :after is unrecognized.
One extra li is needed.
HTML
<ul class="top-nav">
<li class="nav-expander"></li>
<li>
<a href=#>Textlinks Adv</a>
</li>
<li class="nav-current">
<a href=#>Textlinks Publ</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href=#>Google Shopping</a>
</li>
</ul>
CSS
.top-nav {
float: left; /*fit to width of longest li*/
padding-right: 20px; /*make space for arrow*/
position: relative;
background-color: yellow;
height: 0; /*do not want expand on hover of nav-current*/
}
.top-nav li {
display: block; /*not "none" as we want widest li to size the nav*/
visibility: hidden;
height: 0;
white-space: nowrap; /*keep the link text in one line*/
position: relative;
}
.top-nav .nav-current {
visibility: visible;
height: auto;
z-index; 0;
pointer-events: none; /*don't want hover on this to open nav*/
background: inherit; /*show background to collapsed nav*/
}
.nav-current:after { /*fake background to collapsed nav*/
content: '';
position: absolute;
width: 20px; /*= top-nav right padding*/
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 100%;
background: inherit;
}
.nav-current a {
color: red;
}
.top-nav a:hover {
color: #555555;
}
.top-nav .nav-expander {
visibility: visible;
display: block;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
z-index: 1; /*cover nav-current when open*/
}
.top-nav .nav-expander:hover {
left: 0; /*these cause coverage of nav-current on expansion*/
bottom: 0;
}
.top-nav:hover {
height: auto; /*once triggered, let it be its height*/
}
.nav-expander:after { /*the activator arrow*/
content: '';
display: block;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 8px solid transparent;
border-right: 8px solid transparent;
border-top: 8px solid blue;
position: absolute;
top: 5px;
right: 2px;
}
/*show the nav if expander is hovered, or once that is done, any li is hovered*/
.top-nav:hover li,
.nav-expander:hover ~ li {
visibility: visible;
height: auto;
z-index: 2;
}
/*keeps z-index 0 on current; would use the :not(nav-current) selector to the above code, but IE8 does not recognize that*/
.top-nav:hover li.nav-current,
.nav-expander:hover ~ li.nav-current {
z-index: 0;
}
