Xara Web Designer MX Premium 8 Video Tutorials and Xara Web Designer 7 Premium

[trukkerz]

hi first of all a big thank you to champ for these superb tutorials - you have put a lot of effort into them well done - just one thing I have just watched number 12 (layers) and you say all new layers should be dragged inbetween the mouseoff and mouseover layers ?? is this correct as I have never done that and never had a problem or is it just a preference thing ??

keep up the good work - cheerz

[champ]

hi first of all a big thank you to champ for these superb tutorials - you have put a lot of effort into them well done - just one thing I have just watched number 12 (layers) and you say all new layers should be dragged inbetween the mouseoff and mouseover layers ?? is this correct as I have never done that and never had a problem or is it just a preference thing ??

keep up the good work - cheerz

Its more of a strong recommendation than an absolute have to do thing. The Mouse-Over layer is for revealing hidden objects so placing something above a hidden layer is somewhat counter-intuitive. I think having it between the mouse-off and mouse-over layers to keep everything organized is better and will lead to less errors. Also the Mouse-Over layers is a special layer and you don't want to accidentally change the name thinking it is an ordinary layer. So by keeping the special layer for mouse-off at bottom and mouse-over at the top it lessens that chance of causing errors in your web design site. In other words any layers you create in between those layers will be layers you created and named. You could have multiple layers that have different names and if your mouse-over layer is mixed in with those names it is very easy to make a mistake and re-name it. In general I don't think it is a good practice to put static content or stationary content above a mouse-over layer. I may have to add a note of clarification though to the video so thanks for the insight.

[trukkerz]

mmm thanks for that i will have to give that some thought - although I have never came across it before it sounds logical but I would of thought keeping the mouseoff and mouseover layers together reduces the risk of renaming them unless that is just me - keep up the good work :-)

[Tom Elledge]

I have just watched the tutorials on navbars and it's helped a great deal in understanding where I have been messed up previously. But I am still stuck, as I have a site I have been asked to build and the drop down links on the sponsors page are supposed to link with the catagories listed on the sponsor page, ie:attractions, restauraunts etc. Can this be done with xara? I am really struggling for some reason to figure it out and my deadline for the project is drawing near. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[champ]

I have just watched the tutorials on navbars and it's helped a great deal in understanding where I have been messed up previously. But I am still stuck, as I have a site I have been asked to build and the drop down links on the sponsors page are supposed to link with the catagories listed on the sponsor page, ie:attractions, restauraunts etc. Can this be done with xara? I am really struggling for some reason to figure it out and my deadline for the project is drawing near. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If I am understanding correctly you want to link the sub menus to those categories. If yes, I would go to your navigation menu bar properties by double clicking on your navigation bar you created. Then I would check the settings category and make sure you have the "automatically link to all pages" option unchecked. That way when you create a new page it doesn't automatically create a new tab in your navigation menu bar. Once you do that when you create a new page go back to your navigation menu bar and create the sub-menu you want and link it to the new pages you create. Let me know if that resolves your problem.

[trukkerz]

I suppose its a preference thing because I would much prefer this layout of layers - as I dont think it affects the operation of the website I suppose its down to the individual on how they work


Scripts
Information
Other Content
Videos
Images
Mouse-Over Layer
Mouse-Off Layer

cheerz

[champ]

I suppose its a preference thing because I would much prefer this layout of layers - as I dont think it affects the operation of the website I suppose its down to the individual on how they work


Scripts
Information
Other Content
Videos
Images
Mouse-Over Layer
Mouse-Off Layer

cheerz

I wish I had an example I could show you but its been years since I had any problems with the layers. I remember awhile back I had problem with layers but I think that was with like version 6 of the program, which is when I started using the method I showed you. I tested it the way you mentioned and it seems to be safe so I would stick with what you have been doing. I will have to make an update tutorial on that subject or add a note into video.

[Tom Elledge]

Thanks so much Steve for helping me out. I previewed yours and it worked great. I set mine up the same way and it checked out great twice, but now for some reason, both your file and mine in preview mode try to got to "lost webpages" page on the web. I am hoping this is my computer but won't know until I get the site uploaded. Thanks for TALKGRAPHICS and all your help.

[steve.ledger]

In WD, make sure you are previewing the website and not the page because all pages need to be exported to Xara's temp folder when previewing.

[champ]

mmm thanks for that i will have to give that some thought - although I have never came across it before it sounds logical but I would of thought keeping the mouseoff and mouseover layers together reduces the risk of renaming them unless that is just me - keep up the good work :-)

I will try to explain a little better what I mean. Imagine that the information I write below is layers and each name represents a layer:

Scripts
Information
Other Content
Mouse-Over Layer
Videos
Images
Mouse-Off Layer

Notice how the mouse over layer is mixed in with all other layers? If for some reason you accidently change the mouse-over layers you want know it because its mixed in with other layers. Whearas if you list it this way you will immediately notice if proper layers still are named properly:

Mouse-Over Layer
Scripts
Information
Other Content
Videos
Images
Mouse-Off Layer

By keeping the special layers at bottom and top I can immediately see if they have proper names. When your website starts to grow bigger and you have a lot of layers sometimes you make mistakes that can effect how your website behaves and by keeping the layers the way I have shown allows me to eliminate that as one of the problems. Sometimes I also have viewers send me their files if they need help with finding out what is going on with their website and this allows me to quickly check if they have a problem with layers or not.