brochure pages without menu links

[sametch]

I would like to create a large number of brochure pages to cover things like "warranty" "ce- marking" "backgound information" etc.

This will create too many buttons on my site.

The way I would like to get around this is to create these brochure pages, but not have a menu link to them. I will then have a FAQ page with a many fragments. Each fragment would have a link to the appropriate brochure pages.

I have created the brochure pages and I had hoped that by leaving the "button image" and the "highlight image" blank there would be no menu link and actinic would simply upload an unlinked page which I could create a text link to using [LINK].

This doesn't appear to work, Actinic substitutes a default button and my menu bar ends up with lots of the same name buttons!

I then thought perhaps if I upload the site and then hide the page and upload again, this might create the page and them remove the menu buttons but the page on the server would remain, but Actinic overwrites the page with a blank one!

Is there any way of achaiving what I would like to do?

[garyhay]

I dont really use the brouchure pages but what you want to achieve can be created in Dreamweaver etc. and then you can create an Act_Primary page from your dreamweaver pages.

[sametch]

Gary

I could do that, but I am developing the site for someone else and that would need them to be able to understand HTML.

If I use brochure pages, they can edit it themselves saving me a lot of work.

[garyhay]

Macromedia Contribute only costs £80 and we have found it really useful for allowing clients to manage the content.

[sametch]

Thats a good point, but I guess I prefer to keep things within a single user environment. Actinic already enables site owners to update their product details.

So I would prefer to try to find a way of enabling them to modify the brochure pages in the same environment. That way they only have to go up one learning curve, and only have to buy one piece of software. Just seams simpler to me.

If I exhaust all Actinic avenues and can't find a solution, them maybe contribute will become a consideration.

[sametch]

For anyone who may be interested, there is a solution to this. By removing the filenames for default brochure button and adding a page without a button filename. The page then does not appear on the menu, but it is uploaded and can be called from throughout the site with a text hyperlink.

[Craig Walsh]

Can buttons point to another website?

We are in the process of moving to Actinic from StoreFront.

We have a "main" site (with about us pages, etc.) and then have a shopping site. I don't wish to create new about us pages in the Actinic store, but would prefer it if the buttons could somehow point to our other domain. For example, I'd like the "About Us" button to direct customers to http://www.luciesfarm.com/about_us.htm in our other website (which even has a different URL).

If I remove the buttons completely, I understand that the [LINK] will work, and that would be an OK solution. But having the buttons work as well would be better.

Is there any way to have the buttons on the brochure page point to web pages on a different host, with a different URL?

Thanks for your help...

Craig

[cdicken]

Is there any way to have the buttons on the brochure page point to web pages on a different host, with a different URL?

Not within the application, but it is simple enough to edit the template that inserts the navigation bar in order to insert your own buttons.

You need to edit a file called the 'Overall Layout Template'. The one for your brochure pages can be accessed via 'Design | Options | Brochure' and then one for your store pages can be accessed via 'Design | Options | Layouts'. Look for the variables NETQUOTEVAR:HEADERGUIDE and/or NETQUOTEVAR:FOOTERGUIDE. These are the variables that become the navigation bars. Add in your own custom buttons pointing to your own site near these variables.

[Craig Walsh]

Brochure Pages - Menu Links

Hi, Chris ---

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm sorry, but I'm still confused.

On the draft Welcome Page there are buttons for "About Us," "How to Contact Us," "Specials," "Links," etc. At present these buttons do not appear to point anywhere --- no hyperlink. At least none that I could find.

I don't really want to create new buttons: the ones that are there are fine. I just would like them to point to the relevant pages. And the relevant pages, at least in our case, are not in our Actinic store as we have another website, with a different URL. So, for example, I would like the "contact us" button to point to www.luciesfarm.com/about_us.htm

I have found the edit facility you mentioned, and opened up a page of HTML. I also found the variables you mentioned, but don't really know what to add "near these variables."

I can certainly create a GIF button in Photoshop, but don't know how to add the hyperlink to the GIF button. And, as I mentioned, I'm quite happy with the look of the buttons that are already in the store template. Just need to know how to point them to the relevant web pages.

Thanks for your continued help. I appreciate it very much.

Regards,

Craig

[cdicken]

On the draft Welcome Page there are buttons for "About Us," "How to Contact Us," "Specials," "Links," etc. At present these buttons do not appear to point anywhere --- no hyperlink. At least none that I could find.

Aaah.

Are you looking at the example 'More Pages' page that comes with the software. This page contains a selection of fragments that show you all the different brochure button graphics that are available. They are not there for navigation.

What you need to do is right-click on a brochure page icon in your Actinic content tree. Then select 'New Brochure Page'. Enter a name for the page and then select an icons to use in the 'Button Image' and 'Highlight Image' fields. This will create a link as part of your navigation bar in the generated brochure site that links to a (currently empty) page.

With regards to the code to enter in the brochure overall layout template to create a button, it should look like this:

<a href="http://url.to.link.to/" onMouseOver="SwapImage('image_name','rollover_image.gif')" onMouseOut="RestoreImage()">
<img src="normal_image.gif" alt="Some alternative text" name="image_name" border="0">
</a>

Substitute the placeholder values in there with real relevant values for you.
normal_image.gif - the normal button graphic
rollover_image.gif - the highlighted button graphic
image_name - a name for the image. Each button needs to have a unique name.