Positioning a menu

Poster: galcott
Dated: Tuesday May 24 2005 - 21:07:05 BST

Hello,

I am new to this product and am having trouble figuring out how to position my menu on the page. I have a graphic at the top and I want the menu right under the graphic, then there is content below the menu. I used the left and top properties of the menu to position it under the graphic, but when I change from 1024x768 to 800x600 it moves horizontally so it's no longer aligned. It also overwrites the top part of the content below it. I tried using position=relative but this didn't have any effect. I also saw the example about putting the menu inside a table but I hope this isn't necessary if all I want is to position it between two sections of the page. Thanks for any help on this.

You can view my page in its current state at:
http://www.ultimateinsurancejobs.com/test/index2.html

Glenn

Poster: Ruth
Dated: Wednesday May 25 2005 - 3:00:38 BST

Hi Glenn,

As you know when you change resolution everything 'shifts'. If you want the menu to shift with everything else, you will need to put it in a table.

You do not have to put the actual main menu in the table if you don't want that. You can put the main menu into it's own data file, just the main menu and an ending draw menus. You would then call the 3 base files and your menu_data file immediately after the body tag, and then call the main_menu file in the table cell where you want it to appear. Or you can put the actual menu there.

Also, use align center to center the table because some browsers are not happy with the menu in a div, it's made up of divs, spans etc.

Ruth

Poster: galcott
Dated: Wednesday May 25 2005 - 3:39:29 BST

Ruth,

Thanks for that info. I have it working now but there is still one problem. If I change the text size to medium or larger in IE, the menu expands so that it's wider than the graphic. I've tried various settings for the fontsize in the menu definition (100%, normal, small, medium), and I have defined the menuwidth at 798, but this always happens. Is there a way to maintain the width regardless of browser font size settings?

The page is now at:
http://www.ultimateinsurancejobs.com/test2/index.html

Glenn

Poster: Ruth
Dated: Wednesday May 25 2005 - 4:21:38 BST

You can maintain the font size in IE by setting the fontsize in the menu to pixels [you can use pts and such, but px are better for cross browsers since most render them pretty much the same] IE will not over-ride that unless the user has a style sheet and has set the browser to use his style sheet through the accessiblity option under the internet options.

Unfortunately, that does not work in Netscape, Firefox. Even though font sizes are set in the menu, those two browsers treat their drop down text size changer as if that were a user defined and specified style sheet. So they will always over-ride what you set.

The only way around that is to make images with text on them. Sorry it isn't better news

Ruth

Poster: galcott
Dated: Wednesday May 25 2005 - 4:47:45 BST

Great, just more browser incompatibility nonsense. Stuff like this makes me glad that web design is a very secondary part of my work. I'm mainly a programmer but got the job of redesigning this site because our designer did a lousy job and then disappeared.

I do have to say that Milonic seems like a really neat product, much easier to configure than most of the zillions of other menu systems out there. As a programmer I have no problem with editing configuration files rather than using a visual designer front end. It's quick and easy as long as you can keep track of all the different settings.

Glenn

Poster: Ruth
Dated: Wednesday May 25 2005 - 6:06:05 BST

A couple of things I forgot to mention.

You have the menu set at 748 wide, and that table at 800. Make sure you color the menu td background the same as the menu offbgcolor. That actually gives you some space for the items to expand if people increase the font, because once you license the menu you won't get that Milonic [or the dummy] item.

Also, you would do better using text not images given you want the site accessible to those who have trouble seeing and need larger fonts.

Ruth