Converted from 3.x to 5 -- Menus without URL show hand...

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maxe
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Converted from 3.x to 5 -- Menus without URL show hand...

Post by maxe »

Hello Good People,

I converted my menues from 3.x to 5 a few days ago. I just noticed that hovering over a menu item that has no link associated with it, it shows a hand for a cursor... making you click, but all I get is an error: void()

There should be no hand for menu items that have no URL associated with it. The menu can be seen at http://www.yourstore.com.au. It is the top menu | My Account for instance that shows this behaviour.
It is coded as follows: (I have broken the line after each ';'
aI("text= My Account ;
showmenu=account;
status=Your account-related information (Main Page)")

Any ideas what needs to be fixed?

Another thing I noticed is the "Jump to top of page". the last menu item on the left hand side menu, is coded to show the red triangle 'right', though it shows up left.

It is coded as follows:
aI("text= Jump to top of page;
imagepadding=5;
image=/res/ArrowUred.gif;
imagealign=right;
url=#top;
status=Jump quickly to the top of this page ...;
separatorsize=1")

Is this a bug, or just me overlooking something :)

Thanks and regards,
Max
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fredlongworthhighschool
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Post by fredlongworthhighschool »

I get the message:
Your IP address seems to originate from ".GB" name/IP space.

YourStore.com.au does currently only operate nationally in Australia.
We have therefore limited access to our web site to IP addresses originating from Australia.
when trying to view your page.
Andy Davis
Web Designer & Smartboard Manager

Fred Longworth High School, Manchester, England.
maxe
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Oops... sorry...

Post by maxe »

Have added GB as valid country in global.asa. IIS will recyle the pool at 04:30 EST or 18:00 UTC which will put the changes into place.

Yes, GeoIP rocks :) This keeps the nasties at bay.

Please have another look in some six hours.

Thanks and regards,
Max
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John
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Post by John »

showmenu=account; is, essentially, a URL/clickable item. You're telling the menu, and the user, that something can be done here (as opposed to, say, a header item). It's doing what you told it to do.

For the other item, try imagealign="right";.
John
maxe
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Post by maxe »

Thanks John,

Thanks for looking at the problem.

Well, the double quotes will kill the menu, because the array value is delimited by it... and so it did. :(

Single quotes would not do it either. Since I spelled the property correctly, it must be a bug then.

As for the hand coursor when hovering over a menu item: I disagree.
Menu version 3.x did behave properly, and showed a hand only if there was an url. the showmenu is a spcial function listing a menu (as named) under that parent.
While you reasoning makes sense, as in "You're telling the menu, and the user, that something can be done here" ... but how can a user distinguish (as he could in the past) between clicking on a menu parent resulting in a page to be shown or a menu parent opening further (child) menu items?

As an example: I can have a widget page, showing sub clases of widgets, such as tough ones, coloured ones, etc. Clicking on the parent widget with a coursor:hand will list the parent page, or you can select a child and get child pages.
Maybe looking at the following the link makes sense:
http://www.yourstore.com.au | Left hand menu | Scanners
This has no parent page like the others.

Apart from that: a parent menu does not need to be clicked: it auto-opens.

I hope this makes sense :)

Thanks and regards,
Max
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kevin3442
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Post by kevin3442 »

Hi Max,

Re: the hand pointer. If you like, you can override the pointer that the menu would normally show by specifying a pointer to use in the aI() string, like so:

Code: Select all

aI("text= My Account ;showmenu=account;status=Your account-related information (Main Page);pointer=default;")
pointer=default; should yield the browser's default pointer. If that doesn't work, try pointer=arrow; Please also note that the aI() string should have a ; before the closing ".

Code: Select all

aI("text=whatever;url=whatever.htm;");
As for the javascript:void(0) thing... that's not an error. It's by design (in the menu code). It's the href assigned to a menu item with no url (void(0) is an actual function that does nothing).

Re: the right-aligned arrow. I think the imagealign property has had some issues for a while. I'm sure it'll be fixed before too long. In the mean time, you might try throwing some plain ol' html in the item's text property, using an img tag to get the image over to the right, like so:

Code: Select all

aI("text=`&nbsp;Jump to top of page&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src=/res/ArrowUred.gif border=0>`;url=#top;status=Jump quickly to the top of this page...;separatorsize=1;");
Note the back quotes (`) surrounding the argument to the text= property.

Hope that helps,

Kevin

P.S. Your url wouldn't work for me (404 error). Keeping us Yanks out? ;)
maxe
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Post by maxe »

Dear Kevin,

Thank you kindly for your support!

I simply converted the menus on this site, they woked and that did it for me :)
I wasn't aware of closing ; in the array elements. Nevertheless, I want to do things right and have them included. Thanks :)

The pointer thing is a good idea. My reasoning was simply from a usability point, and how active links behave. Thanks for "pointing" this out. It does exactly what I want it to do... and put it straing into action.
Actually got an email yesterday saying: your menus are different now, when I click some of these don't open. There you go :)

As for the image: I figured it must some kind of bug. I had it positioned as you suggested in version 3.x, but now that I have seen it on the left, it shows the link more prominent as being different.

As for keeping the Yanks out: the country id of 'US' is actualy included (allowed). I have a very harsh anti-spam policy; I list top 10 spammers per week and block (at least SMTP on) these networks on a weekly basis.

Thanks again for all you guys looking into this. Much appreciated.

Thanks and regards,
Max
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kevin3442
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Post by kevin3442 »

Hi Max,
maxe wrote:Dear Kevin, Thank you kindly for your support!
You're welcome. Glad it's sorted out.
The pointer thing is a good idea. My reasoning was simply from a usability point, and how active links behave. Thanks for "pointing" this out.
In my book, puns are an advanced form of humor. Nice work!

Cheers,

Kevin
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