You do not want to use Ajax in this instance because Ajax depends on the
availability of javascript on the client's machine. Menus need to be
accessible to everyone, including robots and spiders who do not have
javascript. A server side include is what you are looking for, depending
on what language your host provides (PHP, ASP, etc).
Also, be careful of drop down menus. These can be a real accessibility
nightmare. See other discussions in this group,
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html or
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets. The recent discussions in
all these groups that are worth looking into.
--
Adrienne Boswell at Home
Arbpen Web Site Design Services
http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
Please respond to the group so others can share
Thank you Adrienne, thank you for your advice.
Can you please tell me what is a simpliest horizonal menu bar, with drop
down sub-menu, similar to Ajax type of menu script?
I wish to write the entire menu bar in one html program (with all the
necessary scripts) and then, picked up by each web pages (such as using
server side include).
The web site host is Plesk 8.3. I can log into my web site control panel.
How can I find out what language my host provides?
If you have Plesk, you probably have PHP and you might have ASP classic,
or ASP.net.
You will want some sort of include, eg:
<div id="nav">
<?php include "nav_inc.php";?>
</div>
or you could do something like:
<?php include "linkrel_inc.php"; ?>
</head>
<body>
<?php include "header_inc.php"; ?>
<div id="content">
</div>
<?php include "footer_inc.php"; ?>
where linkrel_inc.php contains the doc type, title element, meta
elements, stylesheet link, favicon link, etc.
where header_inc.php contains something like:
<div id="header">
Bla
</div>
<div id="nav">
<?php include "nav_inc.php"; ?>
</div>
and footer_inc.php contains something like:
<div id="footer">
Copyright info, etc.
</div>
<?php //close any db connections ?>
</body>
</html>
As far as menus, there are plenty of CSS based menus out there that are
pretty easy to maintain, and accessible.
Well, accessible in that they degrade to a single link for keyboard
users. Best advice is to skip drop-down menus for navigation. What a
backwards idea that was (sure a Web developer thought of it.) :)
David, I do not understand what you mean? Is there better choice and simply
than horizontal CCS menu, by mouse click, without keyboard stroke?
How so? If they are constructed from a list UL or even some generic
containers with text-only will be a list of separate links. It won't
"weld" all the links together...
> Best advice is to skip drop-down menus for navigation. What a
> backwards idea that was (sure a Web developer thought of it.) :)
No, actually desktop UI designers used it before the web... I does
conserve visual real estate but it can have usability issues.
--
Take care,
Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com
You misunderstand me. Try using a CSS menu without a mouse.
>
> > Best advice is to skip drop-down menus for navigation. What a
> > backwards idea that was (sure a Web developer thought of it.) :)
>
> No, actually desktop UI designers used it before the web... I does
> conserve visual real estate but it can have usability issues.
Bad desktop UI's (e.g. VB applications) did all sorts of things in the
bad old days. Nevertheless, navigation *must* show you at a glance:
1. Where you are
2. Where you've been
3. Where you can go from here
CSS menus are (at best) 1 of 3 in that regard.
Navigation is best rendered as a tree, just as it is in most desktop
operating systems.
1. Where you are
2. Where you've been
3. Where you can go from here
CSS menus are (at best) 1 of 3 in that regard.
Navigation is best rendered as a tree, just as it is in most desktop
operating systems.
David, thank you. Can you recommend simple basic good menu?
Any example we can take a look? Thank you.
> "David Mark" <dmark....@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:fb500507-d117-4f39-ba97-32e9d52217b9
@x6g2000vbg.googlegroups.com...
> bad old days. Nevertheless, navigation *must* show you at a glance:
>
> 1. Where you are
> 2. Where you've been
> 3. Where you can go from here
>
> CSS menus are (at best) 1 of 3 in that regard.
>
> Navigation is best rendered as a tree, just as it is in most desktop
> operating systems.
>
>
> David, thank you. Can you recommend simple basic good menu?
> Any example we can take a look? Thank you.
>
>
CSS has nothing to do with content, it is presentational only.
1. Where you are - use a special class to distinguish a current link
2. Where you have been - this is has always been available, the visited
link
3. Where you can go from here - again, this depends on the content
provided by the author.
I often include a breadcrumb trail in addition to the main navigation. I
always include a site map, and a custom 404 page that has a link to both
the main navigation and the sitemap. If it is warranted, I also include
a search facility.
Adrienne, thank you. Can you recommend simple basic good menu?
An example we can take a look? Thank you.
Are you talking to me?
> 1. Where you are - use a special class to distinguish a current link
> 2. Where you have been - this is has always been available, the visited
> link
> 3. Where you can go from here - again, this depends on the content
> provided by the author.
And this has what to do with CSS menus? You know, the ones that
obscure where you can go next, how you got there, the structure of the
tree, etc.
>
> I often include a breadcrumb trail in addition to the main navigation. I
> always include a site map, and a custom 404 page that has a link to both
> the main navigation and the sitemap. If it is warranted, I also include
> a search facility.
Site maps are usually worthless and hopefully you aren't stomping on
the 404 status codes for missing pages. Searching has nothing to do
with what we are talking about.
So, I don't see how any of this justifies obscuring your table of
contents with twitchy CSS menus.
> On May 19, 11:51�am, Adrienne Boswell <arb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Gazing into my crystal ball I observed "Alex Fillmore"
>> <no.s...@microsoft.com> writing in news:qLpQl.15904$jZ1.6020
>> @flpi144.ffdc.sbc.com:
>>
>> > "David Mark" <dmark.cins...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> > news:fb500507-d117-4f39-ba97-32e9d52217b9
>>
>> @x6g2000vbg.googlegroups.com...
>>
>>
>>
>> > bad old days. �Nevertheless, navigation *must* show you at a glance:
>>
>> > 1. Where you are
>> > 2. Where you've been
>> > 3. Where you can go from here
>>
>> > CSS menus are (at best) 1 of 3 in that regard.
>>
>> > Navigation is best rendered as a tree, just as it is in most desktop
>> > operating systems.
>>
>> > David, thank you. Can you recommend simple basic good menu?
>> > Any example we can take a look? Thank you.
>>
>> CSS has nothing to do with content, it is presentational only. �
>
> Are you talking to me?
According to the message, yes. Older messages in this thread aren't
available on my news server.
>
>> 1. Where you are - use a special class to distinguish a current link
>> 2. Where you have been - this is has always been available, the
visited
>> link
>> 3. Where you can go from here - again, this depends on the content
>> provided by the author.
>
> And this has what to do with CSS menus? You know, the ones that
> obscure where you can go next, how you got there, the structure of the
> tree, etc.
A menu is a menu is a menu. HTML provides the content, CSS provides the
style. I agree with you about authors who style menus that obscure
information, like the old Hier menus.
I don't think that a menu is necessarily a tree, however. When
navigation becomes that complicated, IMHO, it is best to break it up into
two menus, one main navigation, and a submenu for that particular
section.
>
>>
>> I often include a breadcrumb trail in addition to the main navigation.
> �I
>> always include a site map, and a custom 404 page that has a link to
both
>> the main navigation and the sitemap. �If it is warranted, I also
includ
> e
>> a search facility.
>
> Site maps are usually worthless
I wouldn't say that sitemaps are worthless. I have found them very
useful when I can't find what I am looking for in the provided
navigation.
> and hopefully you aren't stomping on
> the 404 status codes for missing pages.
No, I am still sending out a 404, just providing a custom 404 with a link
to the site map, and an email goes to the author listing the page that
produced the 404.
> Searching has nothing to do
> with what we are talking about.
I suggested it as an additional means of providing information for the
user.
>
> So, I don't see how any of this justifies obscuring your table of
> contents with twitchy CSS menus.
I never obsure contents with twitchy anything, whether it be CSS or
javascript.
CSS menus are inherently twitchy and there's nothing you can do about
it. Not so with JS menus (good ones anyway), but those are a bad idea
for navigation as they hide the structure of the site.
Have a look at [http://www.cavalcade-of-
coding.info/usenet/nottwitchycssmenu.html]. Now tell me how that is
"twitchy".
Dear Andrienne, thank you. That is the kind of simple menu we are looking
for.
Can you make this menu going horizontal instead of vertical?
Can you make the submenu drop drop when mouse over?
I assume I can use the source in your example, correct?
Thank you so much.
That has no drop-downs (or fly-outs or whatever.) Are you suggesting
that styling a list makes a point about menus? Looks more like a tree
to me, which is what I suggested all along. :)
>
> --
> Adrienne Boswell at Home
> Arbpen Web Site Design Serviceshttp://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
> Please respond to the group so others can share
Odd that site has no search, site index or custom 404 page (and your
"menus" are styled as trees.) Did you farm it out?
Other than that, it's basically a piece of junk. I'm sorry, but you
are full of yourself. Can you put that in your quotes from Usenet?
Be fair.
>> > CSS menus are inherently twitchy and there's nothing you can do
about
>> > it. �Not so with JS menus (good ones anyway), but those are a bad
ide
> a
>> > for navigation as they hide the structure of the site.
>>
>> Have a look at [http://www.cavalcade-of-
>> coding.info/usenet/nottwitchycssmenu.html]. �Now tell me how that is
>> "twitchy".
>
> That has no drop-downs (or fly-outs or whatever.) Are you suggesting
> that styling a list makes a point about menus? Looks more like a tree
> to me, which is what I suggested all along. :)
IMHO, menus really should not have fly-outs and/or whatever. Maybe I
might not be "with it" or "kewl", but what the heck.
>
>>
>> --
>> Adrienne Boswell at Home
>> Arbpen Web Site Design Serviceshttp://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
>> Please respond to the group so others can share
>
> Odd that site has no search, site index or custom 404 page (and your
> "menus" are styled as trees.) Did you farm it out?
I've been thinking about updating it, but I never seem to get to it. The
menu is a nested list markup, and no, I did not farm it out.
>
> Other than that, it's basically a piece of junk.
Thank you for your opinion, it's just information.
> I'm sorry, but you
> are full of yourself.
Actually, right now, I'm full of coffee cake and coffee. Funny, I don't
remember this thread as being a discussion about me.
> Can you put that in your quotes from Usenet?
> Be fair.
>
I would be more than happy to accomodate you, if you were giving me
constructive criticism, but you just seem to be merely attacking me.
>> Have a look at [http://www.cavalcade-of-
>> coding.info/usenet/nottwitchycssmenu.html]. Now tell me how that is
>> "twitchy".
>>
>> --
>> Adrienne Boswell at Home
>> Arbpen Web Site Design Services
>> http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
>> Please respond to the group so others can share
>
> Dear Andrienne, thank you. That is the kind of simple menu we are
> looking for.
> Can you make this menu going horizontal instead of vertical?
There are plenty of examples of horizontal CSS menus. Just Google for
them.
> Can you make the submenu drop drop when mouse over?
I think this is what David Mark may be been on about when he was talking
about CSS menus being "twitchy".
Be careful of drop downs on mouse over.
1. Unless there is some sort of cue that there is more content, the user
may never hover over to get to submenus.
2. Drop downs can be a PITA for selecting, even with a pointing device,
especially when they are more than two levels deep. Invariably, I am
trying to get to a third level link, only to have the pointer in the
wrong place, and the whole damn thing disappears.
> I assume I can use the source in your example, correct?
> Thank you so much.
>
>
>
Be my guest.
> "Alex Fillmore" <no....@microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:IlYSl.23192$as4....@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com...
>>> Have a look at [http://www.cavalcade-of-
>>> coding.info/usenet/nottwitchycssmenu.html]. Now tell me how that is
>>> "twitchy".
>>>
>>
> Dear Andrienne, in your source, can you please add more comments.
Thank
> you.
>
The source is very easy to follow. You might do better looking at the
page/source using Firefox and the Firebug extension.
You are so loopy. Go back and read the first post in the thread. Are
you really so thick as think that a "menu bar" with a permanently open
sub-menu has anything to do with this discussion. Or see the feedback
from the OP. He wants *drop-down* menus.
Your "menu" is a fully expanded tree. Menus (as the rest of the world
knows them) work differently, obscuring all but the top level
initially and revealing one sub-menu at a time on user actions. See
why I didn't like those for navigation?
>
>
>
> >> --
> >> Adrienne Boswell at Home
> >> Arbpen Web Site Design Serviceshttp://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
> >> Please respond to the group so others can share
>
> > Odd that site has no search, site index or custom 404 page (and your
> > "menus" are styled as trees.) Did you farm it out?
>
> I've been thinking about updating it, but I never seem to get to it. The
> menu is a nested list markup, and no, I did not farm it out.
Time to stop thinking about it and start doing it.
>
>
>
> > Other than that, it's basically a piece of junk.
>
> Thank you for your opinion, it's just information.
Very good information. I hope you took it as such. You've got work
to do.
>
> > I'm sorry, but you
> > are full of yourself.
>
> Actually, right now, I'm full of coffee cake and coffee. Funny, I don't
> remember this thread as being a discussion about me.
You interjected your site right in the middle of it. And it was a
waste of time as well.
>
> > Can you put that in your quotes from Usenet?
> > Be fair.
>
> I would be more than happy to accomodate you, if you were giving me
> constructive criticism, but you just seem to be merely attacking me.
Bullshit. Your quotes are one-liners. How about:
"...basically a piece of junk."
Constructive criticism does not belong in a review. I'd have had more
time for such things if you had not wasted it.
> On May 26, 5:43�pm, Adrienne Boswell <arb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Adrienne, don't upset yourself, this bloke is a total schmuck. I picked
it straight away weeks back. Leave the bastard to me. I will go over the
latest bits of the thread through the day and make devastatingly cutting
replies to him as and when I need an amusement or a break in work. I
have redirected Officer White from his mission on Boji (who is harmless
by comparison).
--
dorayme
You know what, if your other friend hadn't forged my signature in an
adjacent ALT group yesterday, perhaps I would be more receptive to
pleas for "constructive criticism" today. As it is, I'm tired of
wasting time on loopy nonsense and forgeries.
You can keep this group.
>
> --
> dorayme
"Twitchy?" Not sure what you mean by "twitchy."
Still, drop-down menus is how Windows (the most prevalent operating
system in existence) works.
So. To offer most users what they are most used to using as a
navigation aid? This is bad?
Yes, they can be poorly implemented on the Web, no doubt.
But, still, it's a paradigm I'm familiar with from using all of my
Windows apps and I appreciate that familiar look and feel when I
encounter it on the Web.
My site uses them. Please. Go ahead and try them and tell me how they
work or do not work for you. Seriously, I'm interested in finding fault
with my site and I'll consider it seriously.
How do they work or break in your browser of choice. Tell me that.
Please. I don't promise to address any single carp but I do want to be
made aware of any shortcomings.
But, to condemn them out-of-hand? Sorry, I'm not there.
--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
Bad breath is better than no breath.
> "Twitchy?" Not sure what you mean by "twitchy."
On some slower computers, delays in processing commands can translate to
felt jerkinesses and twitches. It can happen in all sorts of ways, from
dropdown CSS menus to pages where there is a position fixed.
It was a well known problem for folks a few years back:
I recall Spartanicus complaining about such a thing, more recently Ben
C. It may be OS related or maybe just processor speed related.
Try this:
<http://dorayme.890m.com/alt/positionFixed.html>
get any jerkiness on scrolling?
--
dorayme
[snip]
>
> "Twitchy?" Not sure what you mean by "twitchy."
As in, they appear and disappear instantaneously on hovering...
>
> Still, drop-down menus is how Windows (the most prevalent operating
> system in existence) works.
...which do not appear and disappear instantaneously on hovering.
Drop-down menus are standard GUI app building blocks with no specific
relation to Windows (they've been around far longer than Windows.)
>
> So. To offer most users what they are most used to using as a
> navigation aid? This is bad?
There is the fundamental flaw in your thinking. Perhaps others missed
this as well. Users are used to menus that contain *commands*.
Navigating is invariably done with a tree. Load any OS to see what I
mean. The nested folders are for navigation. The thing that starts
out "File Edit..." is a menu-bar. Play around with them a bit and it
will hit you. That's right. The Web has it backwards.
>
> Yes, they can be poorly implemented on the Web, no doubt.
No doubt there. Like most everything else on the Web, they are
implemented poorly. The usual rationale is that things like drop-down
menus make documents more "cool" for the users. Users don't want
cool, they want easy.
>
> But, still, it's a paradigm I'm familiar with from using all of my
> Windows apps and I appreciate that familiar look and feel when I
> encounter it on the Web.
See above.
>
> My site uses them. Please. Go ahead and try them and tell me how they
> work or do not work for you. Seriously, I'm interested in finding fault
> with my site and I'll consider it seriously.
I don't do requests.
>
> How do they work or break in your browser of choice. Tell me that.
> Please. I don't promise to address any single carp but I do want to be
> made aware of any shortcomings.
I'm just not interested in your carp pool.
>
> But, to condemn them out-of-hand? Sorry, I'm not there.
That much is apparent.
> The usual rationale is that things like drop-down
> menus make documents more "cool" for the users. Users don't want
> cool, they want easy.
You promised to piss off!
But I am glad you haven't.
Your above is bullshit. Only a straw man would justify a dropdown
because it was cool. The idea, you nincompoop, is that they are thought
to be useful to users.
--
dorayme
Not after I scaled my browser down so I got a scroll bar. ;-)
--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence." - H. L. Mencken
> > <http://dorayme.890m.com/alt/positionFixed.html>
> >
> > get any jerkiness on scrolling?
> >
>
> Not after I scaled my browser down so I got a scroll bar. ;-)
You have a very big monitor, good eyesight, probably a fast CPU; some or
all of these. <g>
--
dorayme
Dear Ed, yes, you site is exactly what I am looking for.
Can you please give me the source for just the horizontal menu with drop
down submenu?
Thank you, Alex