Multi-Column will not work if...

Poster: rth
Dated: Friday February 3 2006 - 16:07:03 GMT

I tried using the devides to split my menu into two columns, but it did not work.

So I downloaded the sample menu and tested it. It worked.

I used the same method on my menu, by adding devides=2, and it would not work.

I systematically removed each attribute till it worked.
If you have "separatorheight" in your menu style, devides will not work.

I am only posting this so that others looking for an answer to "devides not working", can find one.

Cheers,
Roland (rth)

Poster: Migru
Dated: Friday February 3 2006 - 17:09:41 GMT

Hi

you are right devides will never work, because it must be divides.

And divides=2; e.g. will not split the number of your items into two columns but will create the number of columns by dividing the number of items by 2.
If you have 60 items dividing them by 30 [divides=30; ] you will get them into two columns (orientation="horizontal"; ). I´m using separatorheight in my menu style settings and having 2 columns with 60 items and it works fine. There must be something different in your settings causing your menu not to work properly. Lets have a url to find out whats going on. The sample menu
http://www.milonic.com/menusample73.php has 8 items with divides=2; into 4 columns etc. (sample about menu ).

Michael

PS: I was wrong, I´m not using separatorheight in my styles settings, but found that if its there it is not having any effect in my setup. The menu works.

Poster: rth
Dated: Monday February 6 2006 - 16:04:22 GMT

my finger obviously like the 'e'... it is of course divides and not devides, otherwise it would have never worked for me.

I have put up a temporary location HERE to demonstrate that using separatorheight will stop divides from working.

To clearly illustrate this, I have taken the multi-columns sample (menusample73) and added separatorheight. As you will see, it does not work anymore.

I did notice however that the horizontal style menu is not affected by adding separatorheight to the menu style.

Cheers,
Roland

Poster: Migru
Dated: Monday February 6 2006 - 16:24:39 GMT

Hi

in my opinion
The definition of "separatorheight" very clearly says:



See

http://www.milonic.com/itemproperties.php

The style, where you have inserted the property is called "vertStyle", which indicates, this is a list of items in vertical order. So, which sense does it make to use the "separatorheight" there (according to definition above)?

Michael

errare humanum est

Poster: rth
Dated: Monday February 6 2006 - 17:51:21 GMT

Thank you for this discussion Michael, I think it will help other people if they run into this issue.

The multi-column menu sample says

Users who have already developed their menu will try to use divides in their menu. They will assume that divides will work with their menu, since there is nothing to say that it is in conflict with a menu property.

There is no reference to separatorheight, and that it cannot be used with divides anywhere that I have found on the site.

The discussion is not about what separatorheight is used for, when, or why, this discussion is about devides not working if separatorheight is in the menu style for vertical menus.

I did not add separatorheight to my menu, it was already there.

I hope this discussion serves it's purpose, by helping others who run into the same issue.

Best Regards,
Roland

P.S.
I agree... errare humanum est

Poster: Ruth
Dated: Monday February 6 2006 - 19:34:47 GMT

Hi All,

It's because you're shifting things into columns, and the program can't figure out what to do with the separator. It isn't just the separatorheight, if you declare a separator using separatorsize=1; that will also prevent it from working in a vertical menu.

I have notified Milonic about putting a note in with the divides explanation in the Quick Reference Guide that separators declared in a vertical menu need to be removed when using divides, unless they have a fix for it.

______________________

Just as a side note, although the directions do say that separatorheight is for horizontal and separatorwidth is for vertical, they seem to be usable in both orientations, at least in the later versions of the menu, and in IE and FF. I haven't checked other browsers. But you need to be careful of how you use it. I like it, you can actually make interesting use of separators, for example, in a horizontal menu set separatorheight=2;separatorpadding=3; separatoralign=center;separatorwidth=2; and it will look like you have a dot between items

Ruth

Poster: Migru
Dated: Monday February 6 2006 - 20:35:11 GMT

Thanks Ruth,

your side note - I´m aware of it, nevertheless thanks.
For me this wasn´t really something to care or to discuss as I never came across, that "divides" did not work due to one or the other reason. It simply worked when I used it and using it with certain combinations of properties I did not consider it at all.

Michael