About
DHTML menu problems can be consigned to the past using Alien Menus for:
superior performance
higher scalability
greater optical impact
faster development
true frame-crossing
This page explains all of the extra options hidden away in these menus.
How to increase the capacity of the submenus
STEP 1
Always begin editing the HTML file with the menu in it by opening the file in a simple text editor like Windows Notepad. To open an HTML file with Windows Notepad, right-click on the file while viewing it in Internet Explorer. Theoretically you could also edit the HTML file with the source code viewers of FrontPage or Dreamweaver, but to do this you should be an expert and know how to avoid these programmes rewriting or corrupting your HTML code.
The part of the HTML file you need falls between the <APPLET> tags, where you will see a short series of <PARAM> tags.
Professional version: menu capacity limited to 1000 items (index compression recommended for fast loading)
Enterprise version: you can theoretically determine your own limit, although all normal system and network limits will apply to the maximum available scalability. For scalability maximisation you should use properly hierarchical submenus - i.e. don't try to throw 5000 items all into one submenu, but spread them out in a user-friendly fashion between different submenu levels in a well-balanced tree-like structure.
To set or reset the limit, modify the indexsource parameter as shown above. The indexsource parameter contains 4 comma-separated items, the last of which is the nominal maximum number of menu items which can be read. In the example this has been set to 2000 items.
When using very large menus, index compression is recommended. For advice on databases, dynamic menus and compressed indices, please refer to the relevant articles in the imint.com knowledge base.
STEP 3
Always finish your editing session with a test of the new change. Ensure you have saved the HTML file. Remember that the old version may still be cached. If the change does not appear immediately on testing, close down all browser windows and web development environments, and then restart them - this should clear cache. If testing online, ensure that the new file has really uploaded rather than a cached copy of the old one.
superior performance
