Drop down menu not working?

Freeway
1

Hi, just discovered Freeway and very excited about it but have a lot of frustrating problems.
I have been trying to make a drop down menu in 5Pro following the softpress Tutorial (http://www.softpress.com/support/freewaymoments.php?q=HQ&m=9) and am getting nowhere!
(Another Tutorial I found (for 4) I gather, downloads as a jumble of black and yellow shapes.)
Can anyone direct me to a Tutorial for 5Pro. Many many thanks.

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2

Sorry but…
Well I found the answer to this…In the ‘Tute’ the guy imports his info formatted as a list. It occurred to me…went back and tried it and “presto!!”

I’m still having problems getting a simple 'picture gallery type page working…the one tutorial I’ve found was all about using the ‘Rollover’ action to link thumbnails to a larger image. I’m trying to work along the same lines (without the rollover) but using the ‘click’ setting in the actions parameters. Is that the correct thing to do?

I’m trying to set up gallery pages of 20 images each, differing sizes and formats. Any guidance greatly appreciated!

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3

A simple gallery really is simple to set up - especially as Freeway
resizes the image for both thumbnail and larger size display.

Try this. For your main images, import the first one into a graphic
box and give it the Action Target Show/Hide Layer and set the
parameters to Initially: Hidden, Restore: Sticky, Effect: Fade. I use
a Duration of 0.8, but you can experiment to find what you prefer.
Leave the Target Group at Indigo and set the Target #: 1.

Duplicate this image in the same position, double click on it to
bring up the Graphic dialog and locate the next image (re-scaling if
necessary). change the Target # to 2. Repeat for each new image,
incrementing the Target # each time, to build a stack of main images.

For the thumbnail images, import into graphic boxes and give each the
Rollover Action setting the parameters for Click: Item and Target # to
match the main image Target#.

For a short cut, duplicate the first thumbnail the number of times you
need - spaced at regular intervals - and then double click on each to
locate a new image and change the Target#.

(You can also make thumbnails individually by copying and resizing/
resampling the main image before you apply the Action).

The result should be something like this (except I’ve used Mouseover
instead of Cllck)

http://www.words-strategies.co.uk/clientspace7/shopaintcustomer.html

Once you are happy with your page you can always duplicate it and just
change the pictures for the next gallery. Use the Site Panel to select
each layer and go to the Item Menu - Modify - Locate, to change the
main images. Just double click on the thumbnails to do the same.

Hope that’s a help.

Colin

On 5 Mar 2009, at 08:04, Dan Bryan wrote:

I’m still having problems getting a simple 'picture gallery type
page working…

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4

Thankyou Colin! You have seriously changed my week! I finally got the thing working only to have it crash and lock me out of a nice gallery page,; ( just grayed out, couldn’t get it back up from ‘Time Machine’ or whatever in Freeway though could open them in Dreamweaver.

Anyway, many many thanks.

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5

Sounds like a mighty crash! You did remember to make regular saves,
didn’t you!? Check your FW files and you will find one with a .fwbckup
extension. Try that: there may be something there, depending on when
your last closed the FW file for the job.

Glad you got a result, anyway. Post a URL so we can see a finished
page - it might inspire others who want o venture into galleries
without complications.

Colin

On 6 Mar 2009, at 08:39, Dan Bryan wrote:

I finally got the thing working only to have it crash and lock me
out of a nice gallery page.

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6

Thanks again Colin.

I’m finding FW to be really cantankerous! Things like trying to get a simple roll-over button working and with all the image settings and parameters looking the same as others on the page the bugger will not work whatever I do.

I really am just a learner but it seems to be ‘buggy’ or is it just me??

(I’m using a Power PC, Dual 2.5, 5G of ram, OS 10.5.6 and Freeway 5.2.0 ?)

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7

Rollovers are easy when you know how, but there is a fairly strict
procedure. And it is a frequent topic on this forum - search for
‘rollovers’ in FreewayTalk and you’ll find (to date) over 1,750
instances. The trick is to make your first rollover off the page, on
the pasteboard area at the side and then position it where you want it.

This thread for graphic buttons may help - and saves me a load of
typing if it does!

http://www.freewaytalk.net/thread/view/27426#m_27430

Never be afraid to ask questions on the basics - there are many
willing to help here, with far more knowledge than me, from newbie
problems to really heavy stuff.

Colin

On 6 Mar 2009, at 09:05, Dan Bryan wrote:

Thanks again Colin.

I’m finding FW to be really cantankerous! Things like trying to get
a simple roll-over button working and with all the image settings
and parameters looking the same as others on the page the bugger
will not work whatever I do.

I really am just a learner but it seems to be ‘buggy’ or is it just
me??

(I’m using a Power PC, Dual 2.5, 5G of ram, OS 10.5.6 and Freeway
5.2.0 ?)

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8

Hey Colin,
Are these instructions just for Pro?
I tried them in express and don’t have a Hide Layer
but rather Hide Image maybe ?? (forget)…

I can’t do a fade of course .
It works except the image on top blocks out the image below. Did it for only 2 images…

I have combine graphics unchecked.

Thanks,
Al

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9

Once you are happy with your page you can always duplicate it and just
change the pictures for the next gallery. Use the Site Panel to select
each layer and go to the Item Menu - Modify - Locate, to change the
main images. Just double click on the thumbnails to do the same.

Hi All,

I’m still a bit bamboozeled by this…I followed Colins insytructions and Hallelujeh have got a nice Gallery type page working, then when I try to follow the Item / Modify /Locate procedure I have no 'Locate 'option. So, OK, start fresh and by the time I’ve nearly finished a page I find I now have the ‘Locate’ option…I use it for a bit, go to start on a different page and again i don’t have the ‘Locate’ option… .I just don’t follow why? AAAARRRGGhHHH!!!

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10

On 9 Mar 2009, at 09:34, Dan Bryan wrote:

… when I try to follow the Item / Modify /Locate procedure I have
no 'Locate 'option.

Not sure what’s happening here, unless you have dragged and dropped
any images into the page. If Freeway does not have a reference path to
the original image, the Locate button will not show and you get a
different graphic dialog.

Colin

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11

Sometime around 9/3/09 (at 14:02 +0000) Colin Alcock said:

Not sure what’s happening here, unless you have dragged and dropped
any images into the page. If Freeway does not have a reference path
to the original

Dragging and dropping from the Finder produces exactly the same
effect as using File > Import.

However, dragging and dropping from a browser or copying and pasting
graphics from anywhere will result in an image that has no disk-based
original file to refer back to and hence no way to resample or
relink. Although this process works and can be useful on rare
occasions this is best regarded as Bad Practise.

k

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12

Thanks for the expansion, Keith - I should have been more specific.

Colin

On 9 Mar 2009, at 14:16, Keith Martin wrote:

Sometime around 9/3/09 (at 14:02 +0000) Colin Alcock said:

Not sure what’s happening here, unless you have dragged and dropped
any images into the page. If Freeway does not have a reference path
to the original

Dragging and dropping from the Finder produces exactly the same
effect as using File > Import.

However, dragging and dropping from a browser or copying and pasting
graphics from anywhere will result in an image that has no disk-
based original file to refer back to and hence no way to resample or
relink. Although this process works and can be useful on rare
occasions this is best regarded as Bad Practise.

k

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13

Drop Down Still No Good!

Well, I’ve had another fourty seven goes at it, rebuilt the site from scratch, had the DDown menu working in Safari and Firefox right up to when I was very near to Uploading it when the top option of the drop down blanked out on me again. Worse, as Colin pointed out, I hooked up a PC running Windows XP(2) and the DDown was just a mess on that.

I’ve given up for the time being, made a Table type menu bar that is working fine in IE etc. and I guess I’ll keep doing some tests etc. to try to get it sorted. Surely it shouldn’t be that hard! I’ve spent so many hours just seemingly going around in circles to produce something that looks fine in Safari but like a piece of **** in anything else.

If anyone was to ask me about the merits of FW, right now I’d have to say “Great idea BUT…”

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14

Sometime around 17/3/09 (at 02:56 -0400) Dan Bryan said:

Worse, as Colin pointed out, I hooked up a PC running Windows XP(2)
and the DDown was just a mess on that.

I have to say I’m very confused by the troubles you’ve had with this.
Could you try the following?

  1. Make a new page and draw out an HTML text box.

  2. Type into it, one line for each menu item, like so:

item one
subitem one
subitem two
item two
item three

etc…

  1. Select the text and use the List pane in the Inspector to indent
    it all to one level.

  2. Select the submenu text lines and indent them one more level. If
    you used the text above it would look something like this:

    • item one
      • subitem one
      • subitem two
    • item two
    • item three

  3. Now click away from the text to deselect, then click once on the
    box to select it.

  4. Choose Item > Actions > CSS Menus.

  5. Preview. Upload somewhere and preview on a PC.

The menus I’ve made with this technique work fine in WinXP Internet
Explorer 6 [spit] and above; see http://www.ma-publishing.com/ and
http://www.panoramaphotographer.com/ for examples. Please could you
try the above steps exactly as described and let us know how you get
on? If you still have problems please upload it somewhere so we can
see.

k

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15

Hi Dan,

It’s a lot easier for us to pinpoint problems if you let us know (or
even better, show us on a web page) exactly what’s happening. Saying
things like “blanked out on me” and “a mess [on Internet Explorer]”
without being able to actually see anything doesn’t give us any clues
as to what’s happening.

Thanks a lot,

Joe

On 17 Mar 2009, at 06:56, Dan Bryan wrote:

Drop Down Still No Good!

Well, I’ve had another fourty seven goes at it, rebuilt the site
from scratch, had the DDown menu working in Safari and Firefox right
up to when I was very near to Uploading it when the top option of
the drop down blanked out on me again. Worse, as Colin pointed out,
I hooked up a PC running Windows XP(2) and the DDown was just a
mess on that.

I’ve given up for the time being, made a Table type menu bar that is
working fine in IE etc. and I guess I’ll keep doing some tests etc.
to try to get it sorted. Surely it shouldn’t be that hard! I’ve
spent so many hours just seemingly going around in circles to
produce something that looks fine in Safari but like a piece of ****
in anything else.

If anyone was to ask me about the merits of FW, right now I’d have
to say “Great idea BUT…”

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16

Many Thanks again for your terrific help and feedback gentlemen. I have cut and pasted the DDown menu out of the page and posted it to http://danielbruyn.com/MenuTest.html I’ll get one of the failed pages up there as well if that’s any help. I’ll start on that now,

On 17 Mar 2009, 10:13 am, Joe Billings wrote:

Hi Dan,

It’s a lot easier for us to pinpoint problems if you let us know (or
even better, show us on a web page) exactly what’s happening. Saying
things like “blanked out on me” and “a mess [on Internet Explorer]”
without being able to actually see anything doesn’t give us any clues
as to what’s happening.

Thanks a lot,

Joe

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17

Hi Again,

I’ve just put up a page that I scrapped this morning in Frustration. Any advice as to a remedy would be hugely appreciated. http://danielbruyn.com/FailedPage.html

Keith, I’m just about to try your ‘exercise’ in DD Menus; as you can see, I’m just trying to get a simple menu working. Would you call it one sub-menu or similar? Maybe I’m going wrong in over complicating the process somehow?

Many thanks,

Dan

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18

Hi Keith,
just been through your exersise a couple of times with the same result in Firefox as per page and menu I’ve already posted, top sub-menu item has no background.

Looks fine in Safari but…

I haven’t got to IE yet but will try later.

cheers,

Dan

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19

Hi Dan,

Try updating to the latest version (5.3.2), I think this problem was
fixed in the most recent build.

http://www.softpress.com/support/updates.php

Regards,

Joe

On 17 Mar 2009, at 12:05, Dan Bryan wrote:

Hi Keith,
just been through your exersise a couple of times with the same
result in Firefox as per page and menu I’ve already posted, top sub-
menu item has no background.

Looks fine in Safari but…

I haven’t got to IE yet but will try later.

cheers,

Dan

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