How do I make expand / collapse text?

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28 December 2018, 10:46 AM
ArkwrightZ

How do I make expand / collapse text?

....like in news articles that have a couple of lines of info then the link "more...." which when clicked reveals lots of hidden text, pushing the rest of the page down?

I know this must be a basic function and have been using Xara for web editing for years but can't find how to do it!

Many thanks for your help.:)
28 December 2018, 02:49 PM
Acorn

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Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArkwrightZ

....like in news articles that have a couple of lines of info then the link "more...." which when clicked reveals lots of hidden text, pushing the rest of the page down?
I know this must be a basic function and have been using Xara for web editing for years but can't find how to do it!
Many thanks for your help.:)

It is not at all basic but it can be done in Xara, apart from pushing the rest of the page down. Xara has fixed page heights.

Here is a quick example with a number of additions to make it presentable: Attachment 123034

Can you update your TG Profile to your current Xara product(s)?

Thanks.

Acorn
29 December 2018, 02:42 PM
ArkwrightZ

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

Thanks Acorn. I've updated to Xara Web Designer Premium 16.

How do I make such an expandable text box though?

Many thanks!
30 December 2018, 04:00 PM
ArkwrightZ

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArkwrightZ

Thanks Acorn. I've updated to Xara Web Designer Premium 16.

How do I make such an expandable text box though?

Many thanks!

OK - I got it - I read up about layers etc..

Many thanks again for your help Acorn.
30 December 2018, 06:55 PM
Acorn

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArkwrightZ

OK - I got it - I read up about layers etc..
Many thanks again for your help Acorn.

Good to hear. Try varying a few things at a time to get a handle on the wide possibilities.

Acorn
31 December 2018, 04:11 AM
ArkwrightZ

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

PS Although I'm very surprised that such basic (i.e. common on websites) functionality as expanding text and pushing following page content down the page is not even possible in Xara Web Designer Premium, let alone standard. I confess my opinion of Xara has gone down a notch.
31 December 2018, 09:10 AM
Acorn

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArkwrightZ

PS Although I'm very surprised that such basic (i.e. common on websites) functionality as expanding text and pushing following page content down the page is not even possible in Xara Web Designer Premium, let alone standard. I confess my opinion of Xara has gone down a notch.

Such a feature is not intrinsic to a text panel anywhere. There is coding or styling some developer has to apply. Spend some time with Layers and you will find there are a powerful Xara innovation.

Acorn
31 December 2018, 12:03 PM
Acorn

Re: How do I make expand / collapse text?

@ArtwrightZ - have a read of this - https://css-tricks.com/text-fade-read-more/.

This is an Adobe discussion (https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1637823). The link, http://estructor.altervista.org/closeopen/, shows a rather presentable approach. Its CSS is quite large - http://estructor.altervista.org/clos.../closeopen.css - and this is a basic page.

Xara simply doesn't handle expanding DIVs where other objects are pushed downwards; you have a fixed length page. It would be possible to incorporate all the effort of the Abode example into Xara but you'll have to abstract your text away into DIVs and you are relying on someone else's CSS that you would have to fully understand before changing to your specific purpose.

Step back and look at the Xara approach. Mostly graphical and visually representational in form with a few Xara mechanisms applied. Very flexible (font, sizing, position, reveal effects, colours, ...).

Acorn