Leaving XWD Because of Immense Frustration

[akubbeng]

Lots of people are complaining that this is much too much work ........ What are the alternatives?

Well Keith, as we know Xara's own Menu Maker can do the job.

Create your multi-level menu in there and paste the code into your Web Designer web page. This cheap ($24.99 US) and fast option was already suggested several times on the forum and could be of interest for some.
At least until Web Designer will have this - or similar - functionality integrated, as referred to by Cursor and others.

By the way, appreciate your time and energy in creating this tutorial, Cursor.

[w00dy]

Try placeholders and Easy Button & Menu Creator (www.blumentals.net) ... I really do like Web Designer .... after using Xtreme, there is a minimal learning curve but I am not making hard work of it.

[slavelle]

I don't agree about the drop down menu being "out of style". There are still a ton of sites being produced that have them. That said, too complicated a menu system is obnoxious and unnecessary.

I DON'T like that horizontal menu of additional choices that comes up under a menu item. If you don't keep your mouse right in the horizontal track of items, then they typically all go away, and it's hard to associate them to the menu they go with (like what you were looking at/for) since all submenus show up in the same horizontal space, regardless of which item was selected.

People are used to this drop down menu interdfae because it's the way that every OS works to some degree, as well as most forums (look up at the top of this page at the search and quicklinks menus - and vbulletin is about the most popular forum around.

For me, the prebuilt options aren't optimal, as they have a certain look about them that I don't really care for - some too simple, and some create menus that look dated at best, with limited options for changes.

As mentioned above, it's not like it's EASY to create these using CSS either. In fact, just getting a basic nav bar to work and line up in all broswers can be quite an endevor. I've done several and each time, I want to tear my hair out by the roots with pixel alignment problems, etc.

Just do a search for "suckerfish" menus if you want to see what a pain it can be. However, from a maintenance perspective, once they are setup, it's pretty easy to reorganize, add, or delete menu items or add entirely new dropdowns without having to address the whole site.

I put together a video yesterday about how to EASILY build up a nav bar with drop downs, but keeping it VERY simple. the whole vid was only eight minutes long and created a basic nav bar with two drops, sticking to text hovers and simple graphics.

Unfortunately, my avi -> swf converter ate the file and I wasn't able to post it. For as many people as I've seen report how hard this is, I will likely redo the video to assist.

[cursor]

I'll certainl look forward to the publication of your redone video, slavelle. As always, thanks for your input. =)

[Boy]

Some sites, just as this one that was posted by jagweb7 in the "Show Us Your Sites" thread, are very suitable to use a multi-level navbar, because it allows very easy navigation to specific information that is searched for by the visitor.

Some sites require some more browsing to acquaint the visitor with the company, its services/products, its history etc. But this site seems to be aimed more at people who already know about the company but need some additional information about specific facts or events.

[w00dy]

Doesn't display properly in Chrome for me.

[markJ]

great website thanks w00dy.

[suzzie1234]

OMGosh, this thread has caused a lot of flurry. Sorry about that. Im Suzzy1234 the OP.

Cursor and Slavelle...THANK YOU So Much for your most excellent help!!! You guys are marvelous! Thank You.

I have stopped back here briefly... after recovering some...from the 19 step versions of cascading menus.

Curtis, your tutorial is great...thanks for helping the entire community here and me understand some of the issues and workflows involved. Great work!!

Slavelle...Thank you for the video tutorial...what a help. I love your simpler solution and video. I learn well by show-me video. Your button solution is not as visually sophisticated as Cursors buttons are obviously...but it works just great... and is easy to do. I cant wait for your second video...id love to understand more.

Im very appreciative of all your kind help and comments. Thank You.

[cursor]

I'm glad to see you back, Suzzie. Doing the tutorial was both a challenge (making sure that the sequence was logical, and that no steps were left out) and a lot of fun.

I just downloaded and installed a screen recorder (FastStone Capture) and plan on creating a number of navigational tutorials. I'll certainly do a video version of the tutorial that I offered earlier in this thread. It should make it clear that the process is not quite as intimidating as the step-by-step instructions might make it seem. You can have great looking buttons AND quality function.

I don't have a microphone yet ... will shop for that (perhaps today).

[suzzie1234]

Hi Curtis,

Boy would I really enjoy you doing some simple videos!!!

You have a gift and nack for teaching... and creating quick videos would help to easily disiminate the immense knowledge and expertise you have developed in WD. Im all with you...go get that microphone...il help you pay for it!!