Misbehavior of repeat on all pages

Hello and happy Wednesday.

Having a problem. I developed a home page for a website on which the elements work well. I am now adding pages, using certain elements from the home page via Repeat on all pages.

The elements are buttons of sorts which consist of a label and a transparency with the link on the MouseOff layer. Upon hovering, the element shows a highlighted background and the label in a different color. This works perfectly on the single home page design. (Button 1 in the attachment).

When I repeat the element, the MouseOver layer no longer appears. I have determined that for no logical reason, Xara applies the transparency of the rectangle on the MouseOff layer to the MouseOver elements. (Changing the transparency from 99.5% to a lower percentage makes the MouseOver more opaque). (Button 2 in the attachment). This is obviously not an expected or desirable effect.

So, I modified it, eliminating the transparent shape, and putting the link directly on the text element. But oddly enough, the MouseOff text no longer aligns with the MouseOver text (or button face). I say oddly, because the latter is a clone of the former, with only a change to its color. The two should be perfectly aligned. (Button 3 in the attachment).

Remembering the Xara “Soft groups”, I attempted to apply it to see if it would restore the original alignment. It is the same as the third button. (Button 4). Still no good.

Does anyone know 1) why repeating the element causes the change in how it functions on individual pages, and 2) why assigning the MouseOff text a link causes it to abandon the defined alignment?

Any help is greatly appreciated.



Attachment 127317 Attachment 127318

You shouldn't need to edit the transparency or the position of anything.

Create your button on MouseOff > copy and paste in place (ctrl+shift+v) on the MouseOver layer.
Edit the colours on the MouseOver layer.
With both layers visible, marquee select all the elements and Arrange > Apply Soft Group.
Set the link.
Repeat on all pages.

Thanks Chris.

That is how I created the buttons. If you notice, the first example works properly. It was only after I applied repeat on all pages that the problem began. I'm not sure if the .web file is noticeable, but you can see that everything is aligned and should theoretically work. That is for me the mystery that it doesn't.

Your approach fails because of the way Xara handles the various methods you have applied and their applied order.
e.g., Step 2 - when you create the Repeating Groups you have hidden away the Links; they are now a level below the RG.

The elements of a button should be grouped, otherwise it is just a collection of shapes.
You could add different links to each and provided there is at least a 50% overlap (width or height) then you get a MouseOver rollover effect. I could only guess which Link was active on which layer. Actually, the popper-up object should have the Link and the pooped-up object "inherits" the Links for the duration even if it has no actual Link. You could therefore have twenty thin shapes on the MOff layer, all with different Links and a large MOver shapes that seeming then jumps to randoms places, depending on which popper-up shape forced the event.

It is sensible to Soft-Group first then apply a single Link.
A Repeating Groups action, however, breaks any Soft-Grouping (as well as Links).

The necessary operations are as follows:

1. MOff Text.
2. MOff Transparent Shim - this is the key shape that needs a Link.
3. Clone Shim and place on MOver layer - change Transparency and Fill Colour.
4. Clone Text and place on MOver layer.
5. Group MOff shapes - set Web Properties > Image > Group images to Separate.
6. Group MOver shapes - set Web Properties > Image > Group images to Separate.
7. Select both Groups and set to Repeating Objects.Apply Soft-Group.
8. Add Link.
9. Clone till the cows come home.

The jump right on hover is a Xara Text Justification Bug.
The only real fix is to Left-Justify.

I achieve cleaner effects with CSS.

Acorn

Thanks, Acorn.

Instead of trying to overcome the software's limitations, I will probably do as you recommend and use CSS. It is unfortunate not to be able to take advantage of the features that WDP offers, but better to have the desired result.

Cheers