Ron?... Christopher?... Anyone?... Scripting Question...

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vlraynes
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-07-25

Posts 8229
Somewhere... out there...

0 posted 2004-10-13 09:28 PM

Okay...here's my dilemna...such that it is...

I'm working on the navigational menu for a site I'm building.  I found a mouseover menu script that I'm hoping I can cuztomize to do exactly what I need it to do... but... I'm stuck...

I have navigational buttons, and basically what happens is, when you hover over the paricular button, a submenu 'slides down' below it.  That's all well and good the mouseover effects are working fine, and all seems to be well

However... there is a 'blank space' beneath the button.  It's there when the page loads... is filled when the submenu expands below the button... and then is back again after the submenu is cleared.

So... my question?... can I make it go away?... and if so?...how?

Here's a link to the page that it's on, so you can see what I mean when I say a 'blank space' below the 'Worship' button.
http://home.earthlink.net/~raynedaycreations/projects/xtremeyouthresources/worship.ht  ml

I originally tried to post the script that I'm using, but didnt' take into consideration that it would actually 'take' when I posted it here... so... that didn't work... soo... feel free to view the source code and see the script I'm using.  There is no portion of the script in the 'head' section.  The coding for this particular script is all located where the actual button is placed on the page.

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to manipulating scripts, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, in advance!

Ron

Administrator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-05-19

Posts 8669
Michigan, US

1 posted 2004-10-14 12:42 PM

I got good news, Vicki, and I got bad news.

The good news is that your immediate problem is probably very easily solved. You have a <div> element immediately following the Worship image, and I rather strongly suspect that's what is causing your problem. There are two kinds of HTML tags: inline and block. An inline element is like a <b> or <img> tag and is, quite literally, inline with any other tags. A block element, on the other hand, is NOT inline with other tags, but stands apart and separate. The classic block element is the <p> tag and, like all block elements, is displayed as if it were double-spaced.

Your <div id="describe"> is also a block element. The space you see immediately after the <div> is the same kind of space you would see were you to use a paragraph tag.

I haven't tested this, but I think you will find the problem goes away if you add margin: 0; to your style declaration for the tag. An alternative would be to add display: inline;. If neither of those work, then you probably have the same type of problem with the <ilayer> tag, which is a proprietary Netscape I've always avoided.

You ready for the bad news?

I tested the page in Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox, and it didn't work in any of them. It didn't even work in Netscape 4.7x, in spite of the ilayer tag. Unless this is going to be an in-house site, where your client controls who will visit it and what browser they will use, your navigation is going to bar roughly 25 percent of the Internet from being able to use it.

I usually avoid JavaScript and didn't really look closely at your script, but I'm guessing it's pretty old, Vicki. There are DHTML scripts out there that are newer and much more cross-browser compatible, though frankly, none of them are perfect. A good rule of thumb is that any time something really important (like navigation) relies on JavaScript, the design has to include non-JS alternatives. In this case, that would probably mean duplicating all of your navigation elements as text links in a footer area.

vlraynes
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-07-25

Posts 8229
Somewhere... out there...

2 posted 2004-10-14 01:09 AM

Thanks for the info, Ron.

I had figured out that it appeared to be the <div> tag that was causing the problem, but nothing I tried was making a difference.  I tried both of your suggestions as well, and unfortunately, neither of them worked either.  So... back to square one, I guess.

As far as the browser issue, I'm not at all surprised to hear that.  I know there are javascript issues with several browsers out there.  It's unfortunate that that has to be the case...

but anyway... this particular project is for my brother and his friend.  I had originally created a non-javascript style of navigation, but they wanted something more along the lines of what you see on the page now.  They can be a little stubborn when they get their minds set on something... sooo... I likely have my work cut out for me in trying to convince them to sway away from the javascript... but hopefully, I can convince them.

In the meantime, since it's not an 'outside' client, and my brother isn't in a huge hurry, I can pretty much take my time and learn as I go.  I've used scripts and such before, but in most cases, with minimal customization, so trying to 'tweak' one to meet specific needs is a new challenge for me.  I'd like to eventually get to the point where I can look at a script and understand EVERYTHING that it's trying to say to me... and eventually even write my own... but for now, I just do the best I can and try to make the most of every opportunity to learn something new.

Anyway... thanks for testing the page in all of those different browsers.  I hadn't tested it in any others yet, and don't have most of the ones you mentioned, so I really appreciate you taking the time to do that.

I'll definitely pass that info on to my brother and his friend, and hopefully it will help persuade them to change their minds.

Thanks again, Ron... I appreciate all your help!

vlraynes
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-07-25

Posts 8229
Somewhere... out there...

3 posted 2004-10-14 01:30 PM

Did I miss something, Ron?

I received a notification, saying that you had posted again... but I'm not seeing any new post from you.

Did it not show up?... or did you just change your mind?...LOL

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