i am a beginner.. but from what i know a means anchor, if what you want to hover is not an anchor and the id is article-sidebar then the css should be like this:
I presume your problem is that the black background is only applied to the links whereas you want some padding between your link text and the edge of the black background. If this is the case then as you are only applying your black background to the link then what you have is correct, you need to apply the background to the containing element as well, in the case your li.
#article-sidebar li:hover, #article-sidebar li ul li:hover {
background-color: black;
}
Hi Sorry for the delay.. This was actually solved but from the other site. My only mistake from my original post was I placed hover first before the active.. It should be the active before the hover..