A Second, Smaller Version?

Poster: martinh44
Dated: Sunday August 17 2003 - 22:26:41 BST

I would like to see a second version of the menu with a smaller file size. The current menu is great for users with a high speed connection. 56k users, on the other hand, must wait a relatively long time (initially) for the menu to download. I don't know if it is possible to make it smaller, but maybe taking out features like animation could reduce the size. Or, if a lot of the code was devoted to cross browser compatibility, it could be split up into a single file for each browser with an initial file detecting the browser and loading the relevant file. Which brings up the question that may make my question irrelevant: how many kilobytes is version 5?
thanks,
Martin

Poster: Hergio
Dated: Monday August 18 2003 - 13:28:53 BST

Version 5 does have the functionality! If you notice, when you use the menu you only have to reference two files in your page. The milonic_src file, which contains critical menu functions and those used to parse up your menu data file (so everybody needs this one) and then the file containing the menu data itself. Inside of milonic_src, there is a test to detect browser and then it imports the correct javascript file based on browser. The installation of the menu for the server has mmenuDOM and mmenuNS4, which are the DOM (document object model) version for IE, and the NS version for NS4. WHen someone sees the menu, its only downloading the correct mmenu file that their browser can use. And the total file sizes are:

milonic_src : ~8KB
mmenudom: ~24KB
mmenuns4 : ~19KB
your menu data file: ~?? (since you determine how big your menu is)

So the approx total is 51KB, but remember the user only downloads either mmenudom OR mmenuns4, not both.

Poster: fredlongworthhighschool
Dated: Monday August 18 2003 - 13:37:03 BST

and that Java file compressor will also help in reducing the size of your data file.

Poster: Hergio
Dated: Tuesday August 19 2003 - 15:49:58 BST

The aboutus section of the site also mentions the next incarnation of the menu being the version that the Lite version of this menu will be based upon. Then you will definetly get more bang for your byte!