Menu

How to

1. Access Menu Manager
2. Understand Menu Types
3. Create a Menu
4. Edit a Menu
5. Apply styles to Menus

Access Menu Manager

To access the Menu Manager you must be logged in with the administrator toolbar visible at the top of your screen.

• From this toolbar, select the content button. This will load the content menu to the left of the window.
• Select 'Menus' from the list to open the Manager.

The Menu Manager will load in the same window.

The Manager Options menu appears on the left side of the screen.

Up to ten menu objects will appear on each page of the Manager. When more than ten Menus exist in a folder the top of the Manager will change. Forward and back arrows allow movement through the pages. The drop down list shows the ID numbers for the objects on each page.

Menu Types

There are three types of automated menus that may be created in the Aplinx system.

• Standard: Side Menu (vertically aligned) good for left or right side navigation.
• Drop Down: Similar to the standard menu, but may be horizontally or vertically aligned. These are good for advanced, site-wide, navigation. For websites with a high number of pages/sub pages, using a drop down menu can help to reduce the initial size of a menu on your webpage.
  
• Bread Crumb: Horizontal menu links to help users determine how they got to the page they are on.

Each of these menu types is initially created as outlined below. Differences in the creation method will determine where the change in menu type is made.

To change the menu type after the initial creation of the menu, you will need to select the radio button next to the menu's ID number and then click 'Edit Type' from the Manager Options Menu. The Menu Details screen will be shown. Click 'Save' on this screen to confirm any changes.

Creating a Menu

To create a new automated menu:

• Click 'Add Menu' in the Manager Options menu.
• In the same window you will see the following options:

• Select a menu type from the dropdown list

Types of menu:

• Default - The default menu type here displays pages as ordered in your Page Manager.
  
• Note: If you wish to change the order by which your website's pages appear, either access the Page Manager in the conventional manner, or select 'Edit Pages' from the Menu's Manager Options Menu. The 'Edit Pages' link takes you directly to the Page Manager, also allowing you to change page names (if not the page name then just the wording as it appears on the menu).
  
• Anchors on Page - When placed on a page or Masterpage, this menu will link to each of the anchors that appear on the same page/Masterpage. Anchors will be drawn from all articles/objects on the page. When in preview mode, this menu should only appear if links are available for the page.
  
• Attachments available - This menu will display links to attachments as ordered in your Attachment Manager.

• Select the 'Next' button to continue, or 'Exit' to cancel.
  

• A new screen will load, showing the Menu Details.
  A title must be given to the menu before it can be saved and used in your site. The Title appears in the Menu Manager to assist in identification.

• Next select a Template type for the new menu.
  

  Template Types: Javascript (Default) - menus made with this method appear in most browsers and almost any direction (horizontal or vertical). HTML (Simple)- this menu type is limited to vertical display only, however it is supported by more browsers. This method is recommended if you are targeting old Internet browsers. Breadcrumb - show current page's heirachy and location in relation to other pages in the website.

• The Root ID textbox refers to which page you wish to be the first menu item displayed. If you want the menu to display all of the pages in your site, leave the Root ID field blank.
  
• By clicking the 'Pick' button next to Root ID you are taken to the Page Manager. Click on a page's ID number to set that page as the top level for the menu. All items below this will form the menu.
• If you have selected a page as the Root ID and that page does not have any sub pages below it, nothing will appear on your menu.
• To Remove the Root ID page number, delete all text in that text box and click 'Save'.

Sub pages of the top level menu items (as shown in the Page Manager) will only appear in Dropdown menus. Dropdown menus are only possible when the Javascript template has been selected.

Choosing a Root Menu Item allows you to generate menus of sub pages using the chosen page as a first-tier (or root) object.

• Depth is especially useful for dropdown menus. This determines how many menu elements appear to a user (ie. three links/sub-pages deep). Keeping the depth to two or less is often a good idea for all menus, otherwise they become too complex for the average user.

• Expand All - When using side menus, all child menu items (sub pages) for that menu will also be shown.
  
• This should NOT be set to YES for breadcrumbs!
  
• Please be aware, if your website contains a large number of pages this will create an equally large menu when 'Expand All' is set to yes.
  

Selecting 'Save' will reload the Menu Manager. The new menu object will appear at the end of the Manager table.

Editing a Menu

Editing a menu allows you to change the options that were set when the menu was initially created. To do this you will need to access the Menu Manager. Select the radio button next to the ID number for the desired menu and click 'Edit Type' from the Manager Options Menu. The Menu Details screen will be shown (as above). Select the 'Save' button to confirm any changes.

Applying styles to the menu

If you do nothing to the style of a menu, it will adopt any styles given to the page upon which it is placed. For example, if you insert a menu onto a Masterpage section which already contains a glossy menu like background, that background will remain. In some situations however the default styles in a section may need to be over-ridden speciffically for use by the menu.

In the Manager Options menu there is a 'Customise Look' button. This section allows you to apply styles to different parts of your menu. Excluding breadcrumbs, all menu templates can have settings and styles applied.

To edit a menu:

• First select the radio button next to that menu's id number.
• Click the 'Customise Look' button from the Manager Options menu.

The menu's styles are shown in the same window. Depending on the actual menu type, you will see different editing and style options. Styles in the customise Menu screen are saved locally for each individual menu - not in the Style Manager. The method used to edit styles is however the same.

Whilst in the 'Customise Look' screen of either the Dropdown or Standard menu type, click on the 'Edit' button next to the property you wish to edit. Methods used here are very similar to those used when changing styles in the Style Manager. For more information on editing styles please refer to the Style Manager section of this manual.