Menu Builder was designed to overcome problems found with using JavaScripts for rollovers in navigation menus. Menus need to be fast loading, retrievable from cache, and workable with page inserts. From the publishing point of view they need to be able to be distributed to pages efficiently. When using page inserts for headers and directories, JavaScript poses problems unless the script is in the header of the nesting page. The code needed on the page for Menu Builder is simpler and the scripts are run from a separate (class) file kept in the same folder. Once downloaded the class file is then served from cache saving download time on visits to other pages on the site.

Menu Builder enjoys the same rollover functions as JavaScript, but in a simple package that can be easily copied to your web pages. To increase your directory, simply paste another Menu Builder to the page. There is no limit to how many can be used on a page or the variations possible. Each applet can perform the following functions which can either be modified or switched off:

Click a link below for the information:

Below is the applet code as seen in html. The parameter fields are what is used to configure your button effects. The entries appearing between "_" can be edited and are your control of the applet's features:

APPLET code=ArtistscopeMenu.class width=140 height=30 - the size is given in pixels and must match the size of your images to avoid cropping.
author - do not remove.
backcolor
- display background color. Applet backgrounds are not clear but you can use either a tile or color to match.
backimage
display a background image or tile. If a background image is selected it will tile to fill the area.
image1
- the image shown at rest. JPG and GIFs and some animated gifs can be used. GIFs with a clear backgrounds are supported and will show the applet color/tile underneath.
image2
- image shown on MouseOver. The second image replaces the first image.
text
- text displayed over the images. The text appears exactly center in the applet on top of all images. To adjust spacing either left or right simply add "spaces".
fontName
- text style name. Choose Dialog, Arial, etc.
fontSize
- text size.
fontStyle
- text style as with bold, italic, etc.
textColor
- text color.
sound
- the sound file to play on MouseOver. Menu Builder pays AU sounds only.
link
- the link given on MouseClick for your next page in the exhibit.
targetFrame
- the target frame for the link (_top, etc). Local and full hyperlinks with the http:// are supported. The link is activated by MouseClick.
status -
message shown in the status bar on MouseOver. The status bar is the frame area at the bottom of your browser window.

Each of the parameters are optional except "author" and if any are not desired should be left blank between the quotes. For example, a blank field for the targetFrame value will leave the applet with no link at all.

If you are editing in Page view your applet will not show the images and will look like those below. To align your menu it can be in a "table" as seen below. The table can be used to control the spacing between buttons and makes copying the set to other pages easier.

No table spacing

 

When aligning tables for tight fits, editors tend to add seemingly unnecessary spaces that need to be removed. If you cannot get your table to smugly fit around the image, check the html code and remove all spaces at the end of the table lines, and then close up the gap between the last TD tag and the image reference.

Menu Builder is warranted to work as outlined but not with the absolute variations possible. For example, some animated gifs work on different layers. When you get a good one email it to menu@artistscope.net for publishing on our users page with a credit. To qualify, the button must be exactly 150 x 40 pixels. Animated gifs and sound files may not exceed 10 kb total.

Display a background tile.

The menu Builder applet will display a background tile of any size. The image is tiled to seamlessly fill the area regardless of the original size. If a tile is not required this parameter can be left blank.

Display image #1.

In its rested state Menu Builder displays image #1. If it is a transparent GIF file, it will be superimposed over the background color or tile. If a tile is not nominated, the applet background color will be seen behind a transparent GIF.

Swap to image #2 on MouseOver.

Image #2 is shown on MouseOver and replaces image #1. If swap image is not needed leave the parameter blank.

Display a fixed text message on top.

The text message is a button feature. The button title remains visible throughout the swap image processes. Color, font style, size and spacing can be edited in the parameters.

Play a sound on MouseOver.

Menu Builder can be used to play AU sounds on MouseOver.

Displays a message in the status bar.

On MouseOver a status message can be displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the visitor's browser window.

Link to a page or targeted frame on MouseClick.

Here is where you insert the page to be called when the visitor clicks on the Menu Builder button. To navigate within framesets a frame name must be nominated also.

PLEASE NOTE:

That applet backgrounds are cannot be made transparent. If using a transparent GIF that allows part of the background to be seen, the applet background color must be matched to that of the page.

The applet size must be set manually. It will not automatically adjust to the image size. Nor will the image adjust to fit the applet. Unless cropping is the desired effect, the images and the applet size must be matched carefully.

 

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