Frames and drop-down menus problem

Hi All,
I have a website in the early stages of design and am puzzling over the

best way to deal with a frames related problem. The site is to be made

up of seven separate sub-sites dealing with different subjects (some

sales, some info, some community) totalling 43 pages.

The home page is to be a single (non frames) page with drop down menus.

I want to use the drop down menus to bring up a frameset which has two

horizontal frames, the top one being the nav frame and thus holding the

drop down menus (Studio VII Magic Menus).

My problem is finding a way to make the menus on the home page call up

the main site frameset with the relevant website page displayed in the

bottom half (the data display frame) of the frameset. Due to

restrictions placed on me by the customer, I'm not able to do it the

obvious way - have the home page 'framed' in the same way as the main

body of the site.

It isn't acceptable to have customers click on a particular menu on the

Home page, to select the part of the site that they want to see, and

then be presented with another (the same) drop down menus in the framed

display and have to click again to display the page from sub-site that

they want.

Grateful for any help you can offer.

IanF

Why use frames? This complicates your life considerably.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"bindlestiff7" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

Hi All,
I have a website in the early stages of design and am puzzling over the

best way to deal with a frames related problem. The site is to be made

up of seven separate sub-sites dealing with different subjects (some

sales, some info, some community) totalling 43 pages.

The home page is to be a single (non frames) page with drop down menus.

I want to use the drop down menus to bring up a frameset which has two

horizontal frames, the top one being the nav frame and thus holding the

drop down menus (Studio VII Magic Menus).

My problem is finding a way to make the menus on the home page call up

the main site frameset with the relevant website page displayed in the

bottom half (the data display frame) of the frameset. Due to

restrictions placed on me by the customer, I'm not able to do it the

obvious way - have the home page 'framed' in the same way as the main

body of the site.

It isn't acceptable to have customers click on a particular menu on the

Home page, to select the part of the site that they want to see, and

then be presented with another (the same) drop down menus in the framed

display and have to click again to display the page from sub-site that

they want.

Grateful for any help you can offer.

IanF

How would you approach this then Murray?

IanF

I am not sure I see the problem, really, and it could be solved in several
ways -

1. link from the home page to the sectional pages, each of which would
contain section-specific navigation.
2. make each page's menu show the section names at the top level, and each
of which would open a subordinate menu allowing one to navigate to pages
within that section.

Would either of those work for you?

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
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http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"bindlestiff7" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

How would you approach this then Murray?

IanF

I agree with Murray. Frames just aren't a good choice anymore; they are
becoming passe, so to speak. Frames make people scroll just to look at your
site which is a real turn-off and make your site very busy-looking.
My opinion is to create a template (one for your home page and one for your
other pages) and use tables to define your editable and non-editable regions
(your top/side navigations bars being in the non-editable region).

dwebber

frames are
becoming passe, so to speak.

They were always passe, you just didn't know it!

My opinion is to create a template (one for your home page and one for
your
other pages)

This may not be necessary. I try to minimize the number of templates I use
on a site, and find that by using some of the advanced template capability I
can make a site like this with a single template. Also, consider using an
editable region to hold a Library item for each section's page specific
navigation.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
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http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"dwebber" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

I agree with Murray. Frames just aren't a good choice anymore; they are
becoming passe, so to speak. Frames make people scroll just to look at
your
site which is a real turn-off and make your site very busy-looking.
My opinion is to create a template (one for your home page and one for
your
other pages) and use tables to define your editable and non-editable
regions
(your top/side navigations bars being in the non-editable region).

dwebber

Thanks Murray, and others, for the input. I'll go the template route.
Thanks

IanF

Good luck, and you're welcome!

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"bindlestiff7" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

Thanks Murray, and others, for the input. I'll go the template route.
Thanks

IanF