possible new feature

Poster: tony
Dated: Tuesday September 10 2002 - 17:09:23 BST

Could be useful to have the option of some sort of popup pane which displays a description of what the link will give people. In other words, it would display the text that you can set to appear in the browser bar at present.

This would fulfil the same sort of capability as using the title attribute in a link to give people a clearer advance feel for what they will get if they go there.

An option for the next version Andy?

Poster: jjangli
Dated: Thursday September 12 2002 - 1:29:25 BST

maybe incorporate some of this stuff:

http://www.dyn-web.com/dhtml/tooltip.html

Re: possible new feature

Poster: John
Dated: Thursday September 12 2002 - 15:29:58 BST



Nifty suggestion. But then...

http://www.milonic.co.uk/menu/menusample.php?sampleid=5

(Sorry - couldn't resist...)

Poster: tony
Dated: Thursday September 12 2002 - 16:45:17 BST

Doh! Thanks for pointing this out!!!!!!!!

Poster: John
Dated: Thursday September 12 2002 - 17:12:58 BST

No problem. Can't (or won't ) tell you how much stuff I've missed in there...

Link Info for any menu

Poster: tony
Dated: Thursday September 12 2002 - 20:20:44 BST

Looking at the Link Info menu, it is, if I understand correctly, an alternative to the popout/dropdown menus, rather than an add-on for them.

So, what I'd still hope for, if it is practical, is an information pane which displays a more-detailed description for any link which is displayed on a popout menu.

Would others like such a thing?

Best wishes


tony

Re: possible new feature

Poster: kevin3442
Dated: Friday September 13 2002 - 9:26:40 BST


Hi Tony,

You can get the same tooltip effect as using a title attribute in an <A> link by placing a <span> tag around the "Description Text" to be displayed in the menu. Put your tooltip text in the title attribute of the opening <span> tag. Like this:


I'll agree that it would be convenient if there was an option for tooltip text in the menu definition array. Meantime, the <span> does the trick for me.

--Kevin

Poster: tony
Dated: Friday September 13 2002 - 15:15:12 BST

Neat! Thanks for the tip.


Tony

Poster: kevin3442
Dated: Friday September 13 2002 - 20:08:58 BST

You're welcome. Good pun by the way!

--Kevin

Poster: tony
Dated: Friday September 13 2002 - 20:43:59 BST

PS Kevin, you did mean to put the span around the actual link in the menu rather than the description that goes in the browser status bar? I tried putting them round that description, and it stopped that particular menu popout menu item staying visible onscreen, it just vanished in IE4 (which I like to remain compatible with).

However, by putting the span title description around the actual php page link, I get just what was needed. And in fact, I can make the title popup look rather nicer by

- putting a space before and after the description, to give a bit more whitespace around it

-putting a javascript \n linebreak at the very beginning and end of the description. This is giving a much more attractive title box - and as long as that works in any browser, it seems worth going for.

If you want to see it on mine (and forgive the religious element if that is not your frame of reference) look at

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/revise.php

and hover on 'why subscribe' and then 'readers comments'.

Please anyone let me know if this upsets the menu in any browser!

Thanks

Tony

Poster: John
Dated: Saturday September 14 2002 - 19:21:10 BST

Tony, I'm still seeing js errors on that page, as soon as the menu loads, this time under Win2K and IE6. Haven't had time to look at the source yet (hey, it's Saturday )

Poster: kevin3442
Dated: Sunday September 15 2002 - 3:39:17 BST


Hi Tony,

I use the <span> in the "Description Text" field (the first field in the menu item definition). For lack of a better standard, the field names I'm referring to come from the comment in the menu_array.js examples provided on the Milonic website, where each menu item consists of five fields: Description Text, URL, Alternate URL, Status, Separator Bar. So the <span> as used for a single menu item definition within a menu array would be like this:

,"<span title='tooltip text'>Menu item text</span>","url_to_go_to.html","alternate_url.html","Status bar text",1

The <span> may also work in the URL field, as you suggest, but I haven't tried it there myself. Either way, I'm sure its use should be limited to only one field per menu item. Hope that clarifies it!

I can't say whether this use of <span> will work under browsers other than IE5.5 and above, but I don't see why it shouldn't, as long as the browser supports the <span> tag.

By the way, I looked at your website last night (tried to reply then, but the forum stopped responding for awhile). I hope it's not out of place if I mention that I slightly prefer the more standard-looking tooltip, like the one you have on your "Past issues" submenu. I think this is more consistent with the look and feel that users have come to expect from tooltips, on websites as well as in Windows applications. Plus, the shorter tooltip doesn't cover up as much of the menu items below it. Just my humble two-cents worth. Even so, the padded tooltip looks good too.

I am now also getting the errors that jgillet mentioned. Didn't get them last night, so I guess you've been hard at work today!

Regards,

Kevin

Poster: tony
Dated: Sunday September 15 2002 - 16:57:46 BST

Thanks John and Kevin!

I made a silly onconnected mistake which broke the menu. But it is working again now. I hope.

I'd be grateful if you would just check on any browser again, at this url

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/testpage ... utest1.php

which gives the description popups, and also the other one linked from it, which doesn't. I'll be glad to know that both work equally well, in whatever browsers you are using.

I take your point that making the popup a bit large has a downside. If only there was some intermediate option. No doubt, eventually, we will get style control over title descriptions, which you can only do at present with some dhtml tools (saw one recently at
http://www.dyn-web.com/dhtml/tooltip.html
though of course it could not be used with the menu

What do your title descriptions look like Kevin? Could you pass on the URL

many thanks

Tony

Poster: kevin3442
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 5:21:56 BST

Hi Tony,

I'd gladly post a URL, but unfortunately I can't. I'm working on an HTML Help project (Microsoft's most recent on-line help system for applications). As the name implies, HTML Help is based on HTML (4.0), although the project files -- .html as well as other types -- are normally compiled into a single .chm file for distribution with the applicaiton or for stand-alone use. HTML Help also requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or above, so compatibility issues are fairly limited for my current purpose (a fortunate circumstance for me). Anyway, it's not on the web, so I can't post a URL for you. Sorry. I am, however, very impressed with the Milonic menuing system and intend to license it for our website. I hope to have URLs to post very soon!

My tooltips look just like your "Past issues" example. For my purpose, I prefer the look and feel of Windows application tooltips (my project is really meant as more of an application than a help system; hence the use of the menus). I also like the look of your "Privacy" example, although I think you'd get the point across equally well without the word "CONTENT." It seems I recently read that "When writing, less is more." Couldn't resist!

Regards,

Kevin

Poster: John
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 15:06:31 BST

Tony -

Still getting the JS errors. NS says...



This is on http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/testpage ... utest1.php. Also, under NS 4.79 the menu is wider than under IE and overlaps entirely the first column of 'blah'. NS does not show the tool tips, either (expected). IE shows only for 'Past issues' and 'Privacy', but not 'Why subscribe?'.

Poster: tony
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 19:43:14 BST

Thanks for your advice John. I find that NN also struggles with these, as well as not rendering the shape of the menu correctly (if I can fix it, I will, though only 4% of people still use NN4). I think it may have been an issue with apostrophes. Would you be kind enough to check again using NN

http://www.web-evangelism.com/testpages ... nutest.php

which has all apostrophes in titles and descriptions escaped

and

http://www.web-evangelism.com/testpages ... utest1.php

which does not.

I take it that, as with my earlier NN, despite the errors, the menu does still load and work after a fashion.

I think the reason why 'privacy' description did not pop up is that the title description only pops up if you hover over the text itself, whereas each menu link works wherever in that little block you hover.


Many thanks yet again

Tony

Poster: John
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 20:07:32 BST

Both pages dropped the menus (no tool tips in NN, or course), but this time there are no JS errors! Wierd.

As for working "...after a fashion..." - well . Selecting Past issues gives this on the following page...



Oops - as for errors looks like I fibbed...



This is on the first URL. Reason I missed it initially is that it no longer holds the error indication after the page has loaded as before (still said JS error in the status bar). Now it whips by in the status bar and then clears after the page has loaded.

Think I'm getting a headache... :mrgreen:

Poster: tony
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 20:32:15 BST

Thanks John. I guess my head is starting to spin too.

Right, let me double check. You reported those errors on the first link (testmenu.php) but not the second (testmenu1.php), right?

That indicates that although other browsers cope, NN does NOT like an apostrophe in the description that appears on the status bar, even when escaped with a backslash. Obiously it is worth keeping off those, for NN or any other wobbly browser anywhere. However, if I understood correctly that you had no problem in testmenu1.php , where it seems that an apostrophe, even if not escaped, is OK in the actual words that form the link!

BTW menu isn't meant to actually click through to any other pages in this test directory, that explains the other errors:)

If you had time to click on this one
http://www.web-evangelism.com/resources/revise.php

which is my working version, with no apostrophes in the link descriptions, and with escaped apostrophes in visible words, I could rest in peace. And leave you in peace!

Thanks once again!!

Tony

Poster: John
Dated: Monday September 16 2002 - 20:44:16 BST

No JS errors in either browser, but - NS 4.79 allows NO margin at all so the menu sits full on top of the text. However, NS 6.2 does show margins and the menu is the proper width to fit without covering anything.

Wonder of wonders... :mrgreen:

Poster: Maz
Dated: Saturday June 21 2003 - 20:51:03 BST

Besides the dervish whirling, all the submenus are unreadable off the left side of the page, bought to you by an aged Mac.

Poster: tony
Dated: Saturday June 21 2003 - 21:56:10 BST

O dear. What version of Mac browser?

THis is the standard Milonic floating menu I am using.

thanks

Tony

Poster: John
Dated: Monday June 23 2003 - 18:43:02 BST

Move up to v4. Many things are fixed, not to mention better.

Poster: tony
Dated: Monday June 23 2003 - 22:37:23 BST

Thanks John. I though it was still in beta. Have you got it running somewhere?

One thing I'd certainly like to be able to do is define both fonts and width of the (vertical) menu in ems rather than pts, so hopefully it would resize according to people's browser font sizing.

best wishes

Tony

Poster: John
Dated: Monday June 23 2003 - 22:48:51 BST

It is still in beta, but is extremely stable. Latest is b12 (subject to change every few minutes!).

I have an earlier version running at http://westcgi.west.asu.edu/sai/ (12 will be up there today or tomorrow).