just put the "hint" unto a some block, for example <em>. and this block in your nav ul li or something. make <li> tag displaying block and position relative em is a absolute block width:0; left:(li.width); then jquery: $('li").hover(function() { $(this).find("em").animate({width:XX},300); },function() { $(this).find("em").animate({width:0},300) });
XX is the width of a hint 300 is a ms for animation effect