Beginners NavBar Assistance, Designer Pro 11

[AlterEgo]

I'm sorry that this is such a basic question, but I have only very recently begun to explore the web capabilities of Designer Pro (Version 11), although I have used the application for years. This was prompted by my wife taking a new direction in her career, for which a website would be very useful.

I want to design my own NavBar, as I want a plainer, Windows 10 style, rather than the gel buttons etc on offer in the application. I have followed the instructions of a couple of Xara help tutorials on YouTube, but cannot duplicate the outcome, which is to design a NavBar with a mouse rollover.

I create the button on the MouseOff layer, group it, and copy it to the MouseOver layer, by Paste in Place. I then select the MouseOver object, Ungroup it, and change the rectangle colour, to give me the MouseOver colour. Along the way, I set a link to the Index page. However, what happens is that the change to the button colour on the MouseOver button appears to affect the version on the MouseOff layer, which changes to the new colour on the actual workspace, although it still shows in the original colour in the Design & Layers window thumbnail. When I try a web preview, I do not get the rollover effect that the videos show, as I assume that the rollover is happening, but both objects are now the same, so I don't see it happening. I thought the issue might be due to having created a Soft Group, but I only did that after I had made all the changes, so that does not appear to be the cause of the issue.

Hope this makes some kind of sense. As I say, I have followed the sequences shown in two different videos, but cannot get the effect I am looking for, and I am very frustrated, as it's holding me back from what is a quite exciting enterprise for me. I'd be really grateful if anyone could point me towards whatever I might be doing wrong, or point me towards a text version of a tutorial on how to this, as the coverage in the manual is done by reference to a number of page locations, making it quite hard to follow.

[Ben.Moses]

Hi AlterEgo,

If you can post your file, then we can have a look and see if its something being done wrong, or something missing. Otherwise a quick method is, 1. insert a rectangle and text designed into the button, 2. group them together, copy them, paste them onto the Mouse Over layer, 3. Double click the group on the mouse over layer so it opens an edit within document, and change the design, 4. Save the edit within doc, and apply a link to the Mouse Off design, then preview.

[AlterEgo]

Hi AlterEgo,

If you can post your file, then we can have a look and see if its something being done wrong, or something missing. Otherwise a quick method is, 1. insert a rectangle and text designed into the button, 2. group them together, copy them, paste them onto the Mouse Over layer, 3. Double click the group on the mouse over layer so it opens an edit within document, and change the design, 4. Save the edit within doc, and apply a link to the Mouse Off design, then preview.

Thanks very much for that. I will print this out for reference.

Actually, found the XaraTemplate set of Xara tutorials, which I find extremely helpful, as the person who presents them goes at a nice, steady pace, unlike some, and he assumes very little knowledge on the part of his viewers. From video number 15, I got the answer, which was that I was working with only one page created, so there was nowhere for the link to go, and it therefore did not respond to the MouseOver. I now have it working.

Apologies for the question, but I had watched some tutorials and I had persevered for a few hours. Anyway, now happy, in the meantime, and thank you again.