Handcoding menu items

[peanut]

Hello

I am being a complete idiot - but help please.

I need to move the login btn but have been advised by technical support in order to do this I need to code all my menus items in by hand - have popped them in but can't seem to find the correct links - what do I link to? the pages within siteHtml folder? or do I need to link to a complete url?

Is there any way of creating new nav items and giving them a NAVREF?

Cheers

(First time using Actinic)

[jont]

You can add individual links to the cart, login, home etc by using NAVBCART etc in the templates ... download the Advanced User Guide and it outlines all the codes you require in there

[peanut]

Hi Jont

I have created new pages which don't have a NAV ref - i.e a how to buy, FAQs etc. I called tech support (one of those bang your head moments) and they said I could only use the ones specified

Also before I added these in I did use the NAV holders but every button had a huge space inbetween.

What I what is a list of buttons at the side that I can order myself (Can't move the login button as you can with other buttons, by simply reordering the pages in actinic)

Help!

1. Can I create my own NAV item holders?
2. I don't have enough ink in my printer to print off all 197 pages and am stupidly not grasping how to (or if) I can add/create my own NAV references.
3.If I do add my own items do I need to link to an absoule URL - http://www.site.co.uk/index.html instead of just index.html

Thanks just need a huge shove in the right direction

[jont]

The AUG is in PDF format so you can save the ink (and half of Brazil) by reading on screen.

By the sounds of it you would be better ditching the Actinic navigation in favour of your own handcoded links - you can use the individual NAV buttons in any order you like eg NAVBHOME NAVBLOGIN NAVBCART (or whatever they are) ... the order is dependent on the order you add the NAVB's into the templates not the order of pages in Actinic. Some themes are notorious for adding in spaces to navigations - these can be removed (worth doing a search on here) with some tweaking of the templates

If you ditch the Actinic navigation for your own that will give you much better flexability and control and allow direct links to specific pages etc. Some themes can use a scary amount of nested tables which you are also well rid of by introducing your own buttons

[peanut]

Hi Jont

Thanks for your advice. I'm rubbish at reading huge amounts of text on screen (dyslexic) I was hoping that actinic would come with a design manual like Erolonline or even zen cart has a 49 page pdf guide which is printable but I'll keep wading through

Noticed the nested tables!!

Will keep at it! and thanks for your time.

[jont]

Under Actinic Help type in Navigation Tab it lists them there also

[jont]

I'm rubbish at reading huge amounts of text on screen

It is not just you - this is a valid point for all web designers - reading on screen is much more difficult than printed type (hence the preferred use of sans-serif fonts on screen) - huge swaths of text and information is best kept to a usuable chunk with smaller sentences with greater use of bullet points, sub-headings, further reading links etc

[pinbrook]

I always used to print off manuals for the same reason as above, however if you use a 2 screen set up on your PC it is very easy to read the instructions from one screen whilst using the other to do the work

[jont]

show off

jealous actually - would love a 2 screen set up - will have to convince the accounts that I really really really need 2 screens... and a bigger pc to drive them... and a bigger desk to put them on ... and a more comfortable chair so I can sit and stare at them .. and ........

[TraceyHand]

I always used to print off manuals

me too. I tend to as I hate online/on-screen instruction guides!
Would be happy to PAY for a printed version of the AUG. Do Actinic offer one If not, maybe they should?

[cdicken]

Would be happy to PAY for a printed version of the AUG. Do Actinic offer one If not, maybe they should?

Interesting idea. THe main problem with this is that it would quickly get out of date, and the AUG is promarily useful as a place to copy and paste code from.

I'll mention it to the powers-that-be as an idea though.

[jont]

Chris - may be worth creating a full behemoth of an AUG containg everything for on screen viewing and also several small versions with different sections to make downloading quicker and printing easier.

That being said users can always just print page ranges for the sections they need!

Users should be cautious of copy and pasting some code from a PDF file as it can be corrupted slightly for ease of page layout that does not translate the same when pasting into a template (line breaks can be a sod in PDF files)