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Example: (click the 'configure' link to change appearance, content and size of the example)
What can this menu do for you? [Show abbreviated feature listing]
 This is a drop-down site navigation menu suitable for top bar navigation with the menu laid out horizontally across the page.
Submenus. The menus have cascading submenus, which can pop up over anything on your page - e.g. frame edges, HTML content, flash movies, etc - but are easily removed again afterwards - just like a submenu for normal computer applications.
Here is the extra information you requested about submenus. [CLOSE]
- 2 levels of pop-up submenus are available. Pop-up menus can, in turn, launch their own pop-up menus. The number of levels available varies, depending whether you are using the Lite, Professional or Enterprise version of this menu.
- The submenus will bounce back from the screen edges if necessary so that they remain visible.
- Submenus can extend outside the browser window, so if a visitor is viewing your site in a small window, their navigation experience will remain unrestricted.
- The launch mechanism depends on the characteristics of the machine being used to view these menus. Currently, with many operating systems and browsers, you can choose between rollover and click launches. However on some systems, a click will be required regardless of how you configure the menu.
- The submenus are designed to be non-persistent, which means that if the mouse exits the menu system, the menus will retract (usually after a short delay). If you require persistent submenus or other variations, custom programming is available - please ask.
- The appearance of the submenus exactly matches the top-level of the menu, and you have full aesthetic control over submenus elements such as text formatting, icons, colours, separator styles, etc.
- Click here to find out how to add submenus to a menu.
Drop-down action. These are standard drop-down menus with vertically stacked submenus cascading down from a bar.
S-Flash theme. The S-Flash design takes the colours you select and generates gradients and borders based on these. The menu items have a strong gradient which reverses for the rollover effects Different menu types are categorised into themes, so you can obtain a variety of matching menus. Click here to see all the menus which match this theme.
States and colours. The buttons or menu-items each have three states and you can change the colours of these states.
Here is the extra information you requested about states and colours. [CLOSE]
- The three states are: normal, rollover, and active/pressed.
- For menus with gradients and graphical effects, the applet interprets a simple colour request by the user and generates all the extra colours necessary.
- Click here for information about how to configure colours manually.
- Click the 'configure' link with the magic wand
 at the top of the page to reveal an online configurator to experiment with menu colours live.
Fonts and text formatting. The menu supports true-type fonts and you can format text colour, size, weight and alignment. The professional and enterprise versions additionally offer text shadows, italics and underline options.
Here is the extra information you requested about fonts and text formatting. [CLOSE]
- True-type fonts. Any kind of font which you can display in HTML will also display in the applet (except in very old browsers).
- The demonstration above randomly switches between Verdana and Comic Sans, but you can reconfigure the demonstration live to experiment with your own fonts.
- Colour states. You can define colours for three text states: normal, rollover and active/pressed. So, for example, the text can change colour when the mouse moves onto it, or when the mouse button is clicked.
- Alignment. You can align the text left, right or centre. On top bars, alignment only has a visible effect when you have forced the text to display over 2 or more lines.
- Text size and weight. You can give the text almost any size. 'Weight' means you make it 'bold' or 'not bold'.
- Click the 'configure' link with the magic wand at the top of the page to reveal an online configurator to experiment with fonts and text live.
Layout and line-wrapping. This menu features automated text layout and line-wrapping. Submenus are sized according to both content and aesthetic criteria.
Here is the extra information you requested about layout and line-wrapping. [CLOSE]
- The menu top level will automatically size all menu items to fit the content you specify. The overall dimensions of the top level are specified by you when you place the menu onto a web page.
- Submenu layout and size uses complex calculations taking into account many factors. In general, to maximize usability and aesthetics, submenus will not be allowed to become too wide or high. If long lines require excessive submenu width, these will be automatically line-wrapped and other content shifted down to accommodate this. If the height becomes excessive, submenu scrolling will be used.
- You can also force line-breaks (using a special symbol) to divide the text into many different lines. Click here to find out how to insert line-breaks.
- To additionally adjust the text position left or right, or to assign more vertical space to a menu item, you can use transparent GIF icons. A transparent icon doesn't show, but it pushes the text and the menu item borders. You can also enlarge an existing icon with transparent space to achieve the same effect.
Icons. Dual-state user-defined icons are supported.
Here is the extra information you requested about icons. [CLOSE]
- Icons are optional - you don't have to have them.
- Icons are just simple GIF or JPG files and you can use any image files that you find around the web, or you can make your own. As they are GIF/JPG files, you can edit your icons with any image editor.
- You can choose different icons for each menu item.
- You can define one or two states for your icons. A two-state icon has one state for its normal appearance, and another state for when the mouse moves over it.
- Click here to find out how to tell the applet which icons it should display.
Stylesheet formatting. This menu supports multiple styles - much like cascading stylesheets (CSS), a stylesheet can be created with pre-defined styles.
Here is the extra information you requested about stylesheet formatting. [CLOSE]
- The Professional edition supports 8 styles. The Enterprise edition supports 12 styles.
- Each style consists of a combination of font and colour settings.
- In the Professional edition, styles are automatically assigned to submenu levels - style 0 is the top level, style 1 is the 2nd level, etc.
- In the Enterprise edition, you are free to assign styles to any menu item you like using the style marker. So, for example, items at the top level could each conform to a different style.
Scrolling submenus. Submenu content can be scrolled if its size exceeds certain pre-defined reasonable proportions. Carousel scrolling is used for user-friendliness.
Here is the extra information you requested about scrolling submenus. [CLOSE]
- A Windows start-menu submenu will typically scroll if its total height exceeds the screen height. As web design criteria generally require a higher aesthetic standard than Windows, the proportions at which our submenus stop growing and start scrolling are smaller - about half the height of the screen.
- A Windows start-menu submenu scrolls using mouse-sensitive arrows at the top and bottom of the menu. This is relatively slow and cumbersome, and many users don't even see the arrows and never realise that there is more content than can be seen. To raise the standard of submenu usability, we employ carousel scrolling, which means that every mouse movement on the submenu slightly shifts the visible contents. The results are a feeling of high design quality as well as faster, more convenient access to the entire content of the menu.
- As with all features, if you require modifications to standard behaviours, custom programming is available - just ask.
Hyperlinks. Every menu item can have hyperlinks attached.
Here is the extra information you requested about hyperlinks. [CLOSE]
- Hyperlinks can be relative or absolute, so you can link both to your site and to other sites.
- If you are using frames, you can target hyperlinks to any frame of your choice.
- You can attach any number of hyperlinks to a menu item, so if you are using a complex set of frames, you can change any or all of the frames.
- Just like HTML hyperlinks, the menu understands special frame targets like '_top', '_blank', etc.
- 'mailto://' hyperlinks work.
- Click here to find out how to attach hyperlinks to your menu items.
- The enterprise version offers the additional ability to URL-encode your hyperlinks before they are fired.
Script triggers. If you like writing your own javascripts, you will be happy to find that this applet can directly trigger your scripts.
Here is the extra information you requested about scripts. [CLOSE]
- 'onClick': the menu has a function like 'onClick', which enables you to trigger any javascript of your choice when the menu item is clicked.
- 'onMouseEnter/onMouseExit': have you seen sites where images and other effects kick in when you move the mouse over something? These effects are created using a combination of 'onMouseEnter' and 'onMouseExit' scripts - one to switch on the effect, one to switch it off. This menu also supports these two events, so that just moving the mouse over menu items can trigger your desired effects elsewhere on the page.
- You can use rollover and click triggers in combination with each other.
- Click here to find out how to attach scripts to your menu items.
Separators. Insert specially styled separators wherever you like. Separator appearance is dependent on the menu theme and some have dramatic visual effects to enhance the menu interface. The S-Flash separator is a dotted grid.
Index capacity. The Enterprise version of this menu is designed to support many thousands of menu items as standard, and to be able to extend this through efficient dynamic interaction with the server to an indefinite (unlimited) number. We will also advise on scalability strategies. If you encounter scalability problems, please contact us for advice, as scalability is one of our speciality areas which makes our products outstanding.
Dynamic indices. To accommodate dynamic sites, this menu is able to read dynamic indices drawn from any server-side scripting language.
Here is the extra information you requested about dynamic indices. [CLOSE]
- Supported languages: dynamic indices can be drawn from all known server-side scripting languages and programme types. Examples include: PHP, ASP, CFML, .NET languages, java servlets, perl.
- Advantages: dynamic indices respond to many needs - for example, your site content may be subject to daily updates with material constantly being added to a database, or you may have many levels of access rights and wish to restrict some areas from some users. A menu which reads dynamic indices can offer every user personalised and continually updated navigation.
- How to do it: the approach is simple - choose your favourite server-side language, and programme it to output plain text in response to a browser query. The plain text should be in exactly the same format as a static text file index. Then just point the menufile parameter at the server script.
Compressed indices. To accommodate very large indices, this menu is able to read ZIP-compressed indices, which allows an approximately tenfold (900%) increase in index-reading speed.
Here is the extra information you requested about compressed indices. [CLOSE]
- One of the performance problems facing any menu system which must display large indices on the client is loading time. A DHTML menu is completely useless in this respect, and XML unfortunately bloats index formats just further. Alien Menus support compressed indices, which typically reduces index size by about 90%. In everyday terms, this means that an index with several thousand items will load in a few seconds rather than a whole minute. This is a crucial time difference as regards site usability and one of the foremost reasons for choosing Alien Menus over DHTML menus.
- To deploy a static ZIP-compressed index, simply zip up the index file into a zip file. Point the menufile parameter at the ZIP file. That's all - just a few seconds of your time and very simple to do!
- To deploy a dynamic ZIP-compressed index, you may have to do a little more work. If you are dynamically extracting index contents from a database, you will need to deliver dynamic compressed content. Many server-side languages have compression modules available, but usually you will have to install these modules on your server first. Check with your server administrator, and inform yourself in detail about the compression abilities of your favourite server-side scripting language.
Additional index features. This menu version additionally offers runtime index switching, DBCS support for indices, and the ability to read indices from parameters as an alternative to static or dynamic server files.
Here is the extra information you requested about additional index features. [CLOSE]
- DBCS support: DBCS means the double-byte character sets used in languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK). In addition, the menu supports all standard single-byte character sets such as Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Cyrillic. Please note that browser software and operating systems should be relatively up-to-date to access this feature.
- Parameter indices: a parameter index is an index which is embedded in the HTML page - the menu does not make any additional server request for the index. Both external server indices, and internal parameter indices, have their own specific advantages which may make one or the other preferable for a specific application. It is impossible to say which is better in general.
- Runtime index switching. This feature, unique to the enterprise edition, allows the menu to call back to the server (or to additional parameters) for a replacement index. The callback can be triggered either externally from a client-side script in your application, or internally by direct user interaction with the menu (commands can be embedded into menu items by you for this purpose).
- XML indices. The enterprise edition is also able to read an XML index format.
Programming interface. The enterprise version offers an API for interfacing the menu with your web application.
Here is the extra information you requested about the programming interface. [CLOSE]
- Interface levels. With a client-side menu there are two levels of programming interface - server-side and client-side.
- Client-side interface. The client-side interface uses a conventional API. Various methods are exposed for querying, controlling and editing the menu. Typically you would write your own client-side scripts (e.g. javascript, VB script) to take advantage of these exposed methods. In addition, the script triggers which you can embed into the menu can be used to send user-defined commands in the opposite direction (menu to application).
- Server-side interface. Server-side programming can also interact with the menu - but more indirectly. Not only can the index by dynamically created by a server-side script, but the server-side script can also embed commands and values into the index ('index scripting') and the menu can be caused to call back to the server for replacement content.
- The programming interface offered with this menu is designed for interaction with web applications and not with other types of application!
Tools. An online visual configurator is available. Just click configure. It can be used to edit the size, appearance and content of your menu.
Sound effects. The menu can trigger sounds of your choice.
For a menu similar to this but with greater graphical options, such as support for background images, click here.
Custom solutions based on this menu are also available.
See also:
More Alien Drop-down Menus
More Alien S-Flash Menus
Lite version of Alien S-Flash Drop-down Menus
Professional version of Alien S-Flash Drop-down Menus | | |
