Changing backbar with each rollover

[dtracy]

Hi - Thanks to the comprehensive tutorials in the Xaraxone I'm finally getting comfortable with Xara and find it to be an incredible tool. As I forge ahead learning more, I have bumped into a navbar design problem: I am trying to create a navbar with backbar images that change as each button is moused over. Is this do-able? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[dtracy]

Hi - Thanks to the comprehensive tutorials in the Xaraxone I'm finally getting comfortable with Xara and find it to be an incredible tool. As I forge ahead learning more, I have bumped into a navbar design problem: I am trying to create a navbar with backbar images that change as each button is moused over. Is this do-able? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[gwpriester]

the November 2001 tutorial?

You can change the button modes but not the backbar image. At least I don't think you can.

This help?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


The Xara Xone

[dtracy]

Thanks, Gary (and Egg Bramhill). I walked through the November/2001 tutorial as you suggested (don't know how I missed that one-I bought the tutorial collection CD a few months ago) and also found some similar instructions that Egg Bramhill had posted sometime ago in the forum. I abandoned the idea of using a changing background, but found a way to get the same result. The final effect I was looking for was to show a single greyscale image behind the complete button set and have a corresponding section of that larger greyscale image revert to color as each button is moused over. I managed to accomplish this by breaking the large image into smaller pieces and associating them to each button as a flyout (layer). It works exactly as I had hoped. Now I just need to become more proficient with the concept of layers. I continue to be amazed by the things that this product can do. Again, thanks for the help!

[Ross Macintosh]

provide us a url where we can see the result. Sounds very interesting!

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[dtracy]

This is a very quick and dirty example of the mouseover effect I've been trying to accomplish. Time now to get to work on a more elaborate version. Comments or suggestions are most welcome.

http://home.insight.rr.com/dtracy/

[a4hire]

Nice work on the Nav Bar. Looks good.

[gwpriester]

Guest Tutorial 4

What you are trying to create is called an image swap so when the mouse rolls over a button it changes an image. Brian Etherington explains how to do this in his guest tutorial.

I used NetObjects Fusion and a plug-in from CoolMaps called Rollover to do the image swaps on my site gwpriester.com which creates rollovers in another location, in this case inside the counter in the lowercase g.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


The Xara Xone

[dtracy]

Thanks again, Gary - I picked up a copy of NetObjects Fusion 7 yesterday and spent the afternoon working through the manual. I also took a look at CoolMaps and will undoubtedly be using their components as well at some point in the future.
I'm still in the process of trying to settle on a single tool that I can use for the long haul to maintain my website(s). Without question, XaraX will be the graphics tool and because there seems to be compatibility with DreamWeaver, I had pretty much decided I would go with DreamWeaver. However, now that I've seen NetObjects Fusion 7, I'm wondering if Fusion 7 would be a better choice. I'd rather focus on mastering one or the other. Do you have any thoughts on DreamWeaver versus Netobjects Fusion 7?

[gwpriester]

Dreamweaver is the industry standard for what that is worth. If you want to make a career of website design then Dreamweaver is the best bet.

Of the two applications, Net Objects Fusion is worlds easier to learn and to use.

As Pete pointed out in another thread, Fusion creates a very complex table to contain your elements. You put things where you want them and Fusion builds a table around them.

This is what Xara does in essence when you create buttons and a backbar. It slices the image into parts and builds a complex table to accomodate the pices so they fit together seamlessly on the screem.

While this can create a very complex table, with a little planning, you can keep the table simple and speed up page loading times.

NetObjects Fusion is data-base driven. So if you have a site with auto-generated rollover buttons and banners, and you restructure the site (which you can do by dragging the page folder icons and dropping them in their desired new location, all the buttons and banners and other page links automatically update. I do not believe this is true with Dreamweaver.

I design websites for a living, I have never gone with the industry leader but with the application that works best for me. And I have never found NetObjects Fusion at all limiting. So my recommend is for Fusion.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


The Xara Xone