Likno Software Blog - DHTML Menus, Javascript Menus, Drop Down Menus

The new version 5.1.748 of AllWebMenus Web Menu Maker introduces the new feature “Auto Item Highlight” (under the “Advanced” section of the Main Menu’s Group Properties), which specifies whether an Item whose property matches the URL of the loaded web page will be highlighted by default.

By selecting “Yes”, any item whose property matches the URL of the web page that is being viewed will be displayed with its [Mouse Over] or [Mouse Click] state instead of its [Normal] state, creating a “highlighting” effect.

Example 1:

Let’s assume that your web menu has a “Company” item that links to the company.html page:

Suppose you browse the following URL:

If the property of the web menu is set to “Yes, use Mouse Over” then the menu will appear as follows:

All items are displayed at their [Normal] state except of the “Company” item which is displayed at its [Mouse Click] state, implying that the page viewed is linked by this item.

Example 2:

Let’s assume that your menu has a “Product 2” item in the Products Submenu Group, that links to the product2.html page:

Suppose you browse the following URL:

If the property of the menu is set to “Yes, use Mouse Over” then the menu will appear as follows…

…and when you select the “Products” submenu the “Product 2″ item will be highlighted by default, implying that the page viewed is linked by this item.

As you can see, the parent item (in this case the “Products” item) is also highlighted in order to indicate that a submenu item (i.e. “Product 2″) matches the URL of the viewed page.

Note: If multiple items within the web menu link to the same page then all matching items will be highlighted.

Note: The following article describes how you can keep a menu item highlighted automatically. If for some reason (e.g. earlier version users) you would like to use the manual method of keeping a menu item highlighted based on the URL of the loaded page, please read more information here.

As you might already know, Google has released the beta version of its new browser under the name “Chrome”.

Keeping our promise to you in maintaining our software’s cross-browser functionality at its best, in our new version 5.1.748 of AllWebMenus Web Menu Maker we have included a fix that deals with many of the issues that result when viewing menus created by AllWebMenus with Google’s new “Chrome” browser.

Please download the latest version from www.likno.com/download.html (or from your Likno User Area account), install it, recompile your menus and upload to your server the updated menu file AND the –also updated- awmdata folder that contains the libraries – and includes the fix.

We are continuously testing the AllWebMenus application with all updates of Chrome beta; however some glitches are still present under specific conditions and the Google team is working on resolving them. When the browser is officially released, these beta-related glitches will not be affecting your menus.

The new version 5.1.746 (released on Aug 27, 2008) contains the following fixes:

- Improvements on the interface of the property regarding the “Scroll on Mouse Over” option.

- Fixed an issue with the “Scroll on Mouse Over” option when the page also contains scrollbar.

- Installer is now updated to better support certain Vista configurations.

- Fixed an issue on the Safari browser where an image was misplaced.

We are looking forward to your feedback!

The Likno Software team

New feature introduced in AllWebMenus version 5.1.744 (released on August 8, 2008):

- New feature: “Scroll on Mouse Over” can also be used (in addition to the normal scrollbar option) when the contents of a submenu are larger than its height.
This allows for smooth scrolling of the submenu contents automatically, “on mouse over” rather than having to click on a scrollbar. See example

- Fixed the moving behavior of movable menus for IE and Mozilla browsers.

- Fixed a problem in GUI when the Refresh button was clicked while in “Style Editor” Tab and then the “Menu Editor” Tab was clicked immediately.

New options have been added to the <Type> property on AllWebMenus version 5.1.740!

“Horizontal” groups (like the Main Menu group) could always behave as “Menubars” (fitting the entire window width). These menubars can now use additional options, like specified margins from the window sides, etc.

Here are all the Options you can use on the <Type> property:

Option 1: Horizontal Menu

More Options on Horizontal Menus:

“Do you want your group to use multiple rows?”

By selecting “Yes, use X rows”, your group will use X rows to display the items.

Example with 2 rows:

“Should the menu function as a Menubar?”

By clicking “Yes, Widen group to fit entire window width”, the group acts like a typical Windows-application menu: horizontal, covering all the width of the window even when the user resizes it.

You can also add Margin in any of the sides of the menu (Right, Left, or both) counted in pixels or in percentage of the page:

“Do you want the items to widen to fit their group’s width?”
(enabled when the “Menubar” functionality is selected)

By selecting “Yes, widen items so that they fit the entire group” the items of the menu will widen in order to cover the whole size of the menu.

By selecting “Do not widen items” the items will keep their default size and the background color of the menu will cover all the width of the window.

Option 2: Vertical Menu

More Options on Vertical Menus:

“Do you want your group to use multiple columns?”

By selecting “Yes, use X columns”, your group will use X columns to display the items.

Example with 2 columns:

“Allow Vertical Scrollbar?”

By selecting “No Scrollbar” the group will widen to fit all items.

By selecting “Auto: when group height exceeds browser window height”, a scrollbar will be added in the menu when its size exceeds the browser window height in order for the viewer to be able to view all the items.

By selecting “Fixed”, a scrollbar will be added when the group size exceeds the pixels you have set in the related box:

The Uniform Items option

This option allows you to choose whether the size of all items match the size of the biggest item within the same group. The calculation of the largest size includes the size of the Header or Footer too (if they exist).

Example:

1st menu: The <Uniform Items> property is set to “no”

2nd menu: The <Uniform Items> property is set to “yes”