Drop down Menus

pputnam · April 6, 2012 1:22 pm

Can someone please point me in the direction of where to find out how to do a drop down menu in 2.5.4

pputnam · April 6, 2012 3:16 pm

I found the directions, which make sense, but I guess I'm dumb because it does not work for me. Here is my issue. I want to group some pages under one tab:Medical. So do I create a page called Medical, make it a collection and add the other pages I want in the drop down menu to that collection. Just does not seem to be working for me. I really need more detailed instructions. Does the first page in a collection just show up as the name in the tab...I'm totally confused now. Please help.

macdafydd · April 6, 2012 3:25 pm

For each page you want to appear in the menus, select the page, then go to the Page inspector, click on the Page tab and there you will see a checkbox "Menu as:". Check this and, if you wish, enter an alternative text for the menu item in the filed next to the checkbox (this will take the place of the page name).

pputnam · April 6, 2012 3:38 pm

I understand that. I guess what I don't understand is about the first page in the collection. If I want the tab to say "Medical" then doesn't the first page in the collection have to be titled Medical?
I get that I can name it something else but something has to be named Medical or else how will it show up on the tab?

Last edited by pputnam (April 6, 2012 4:09 pm)

macdafydd · April 6, 2012 4:11 pm

If you want the tab to read, "Medical," then you enter "Medical" in the field next to the checkbox, irrespective of the title of the page (at least, if I understand what you're getting at).

pputnam · April 6, 2012 5:02 pm

Okay, so changing the name in the box will just change the tab to Medical.
Then I change that page to a collection, add the rest of my pages that I want under that same heading and make them part of the collection.
And for them I also check that box and write in Medical. Is that correct?
Do I have to do anything else?
Oh and will this drop-down menu show up in sandvox itself, so I know I am doing it correctly, or not until I publish it?

Last edited by pputnam (April 6, 2012 5:25 pm)

macdafydd · April 7, 2012 1:56 am

Each page of the collection will show under the tab with its own name, being either that it is given in the page itself, or the one you provide in the Page inspector Menu as field (the pages will only be shown under the tabs if the checkbox is set. of course). I certainly wouldn't write "Medical" in the subpages, as this will only lead to a vary confusing tab (its name will be "Medical" and it will be populated by a number of lines containing nothing but "Medical"). You can have submenus of submenus, if you wish, all done in the same easy way.

You don't have to do this in any special order, as the process is dynamic and changes are immediately reflected in the Sandvox preview.

Just play around with it a bit to get an idea how it works.

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 5:56 am

Ok, I'm a bit confused here myself.

You don't have to change the 'name in the box' to set the TAB NAME, or even the page names in the collections… simply name the collection page whatever you want it to show as on the tab, and name each page in the collection whatever you wish to show in the drop down menu.

IOW… MEDICAL will show as MEDICAL. I think what's getting confused here is: The pages IN the collection and the main Collection PAGE are two different things. The Main Collection page in this case MEDICAL, is simply an 'index' to the pages, each page with it's on name.

For instance - I run some Bulletins .. the main Collection Page is called BULLETINS - in that collection are the bulletins themselves, named by date. So the TAB reads BULLETINS, the drop down lists each separate bulletin. IF a user happens to click BULLETINS instead of one of the individual pages he or she will get an index of the bulletins included in the collection. - JamesJM

pputnam wrote:

Okay, so changing the name in the box will just change the tab to Medical.
Then I change that page to a collection, add the rest of my pages that I want under that same heading and make them part of the collection.
And for them I also check that box and write in Medical. Is that correct?
Do I have to do anything else?
Oh and will this drop-down menu show up in sandvox itself, so I know I am doing it correctly, or not until I publish it?

Last edited by JamesJM (April 7, 2012 5:57 am)

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 6:03 am

Here's a photo of what I am referring to, showing both the pages and drop down menu:

SS Menus by JamesJM, on Flickr

pputnam · April 7, 2012 6:26 am

So when you set up the Main Collection page, Bulletins, or in my case, Medical, there is nothing on that actual page, correct? It is just a list of the pages in the collection.
I just tried this. Have an empty page named Medical and two pages in it's collection. Neither of them shows up under the Medical tab. All that shows up is the blank Medical page.
What should the settings be on the Main page? And the settings on the other pages?
Sorry to be so dense here.

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 6:38 am

Once the pages are added to the main collection page then "menu as" must be set... the default name suggestion will be whatever you named the page. Once this is set for one page then each added page will automatically be added to the drop down menu, so you only have to do it once... or so it has been working for me.

Each week I add a bulletin... I no longer go to 'menu as', and it gets added to the drop down menu.

And correct.. the main page, in your case MEDICAL, is an index... it is not 'blank', however, it's an 'index'... with a list of of the 'collection'. You can edit this 'index' page like any other page if you wish. - JamesJM

macdafydd · April 7, 2012 6:47 am

JamesJM wrote:

You don't have to change the 'name in the box' to set the TAB NAME, or even the page names in the collections… simply name the collection page whatever you want it to show as on the tab, and name each page in the collection whatever you wish to show in the drop down menu.

Quite correct, but the OP wrote, "If I want the tab to say "Medical" then doesn't the first page in the collection have to be titled Medical? I get that I can name it something else but something has to be named Medical or else how will it show up on the tab?"

Clearly, the page does not need to be titled Medical for that name to be shown in the tab.

pputnam · April 7, 2012 7:16 am

Practicing on a blank site, I am able to set up a drop down menu. Go back to my own page and try to do the same thing and it just doesn't work. Perhaps because
I am using pre-existing pages? Even tho I change the settings to look just like the ones on the practice page. It is driving me nuts.
I insert a new page untitled. Check the box next to "menu as: and put in Medical. I then take the two already est pages and drop them onto the untitled site. For those two sites I uncheck the box that says "Menu as". Dropping them on the first untitled page should have made them part of this collection. But no arrow shows up, no drop down menu.

Last edited by pputnam (April 7, 2012 7:20 am)

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 7:33 am

I'm sure this is a simple thing, pputnam… although I realize how aggravating it can be. :)

There is still some confusion here, probably most of it on MY part. You said that you 'unchecked' the "Menu As" for the two 'sites'… I assume you mean the two "pages" you tried to add to the collection? Those must be CHECKED so they will show up.

Insert the new Page and NAME it… MEDICAL… then drag and drop to the two sub pages onto of that page the medical page. If should default to the name you already named it but if you'd prefer a different name them rename it in the input box next to the MENU AS checkbox.

Also, which theme or design are you using? Some, as I understand it, do not support drop down menus. - JamesJM

pputnam · April 7, 2012 7:45 am

I'm sure this is a simple thing, pputnam… although I realize how aggravating it can be. :)

***I'm sure it is simple too and that is why it is so aggravating.

There is still some confusion here, probably most of it on MY part. You said that you 'unchecked' the "Menu As" for the two 'sites'… I assume you mean the two "pages" you tried to add to the collection? Those must be CHECKED so they will show up.

***Yes, I did mean pages, sorry. So check their boxes and put their names in the text box?

Insert the new Page and NAME it… MEDICAL… then drag and drop to the two sub pages onto of that page the medical page. If should default to the name you already named it but if you'd prefer a different name them rename it in the input box next to the MENU AS checkbox.

*** It doesn't really matter whether that first blank page has a name, right?

Also, which theme or design are you using? Some, as I understand it, do not support drop down menus. - JamesJM

***I am using Blue Ball Pro Tabs wide

Thank you for taking the time to help me.

Last edited by pputnam (April 7, 2012 7:48 am)

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 7:56 am

pputnam wrote:

Insert the new Page and NAME it… MEDICAL… then drag and drop to the two sub pages onto of that page the medical page. If should default to the name you already named it but if you'd prefer a different name them rename it in the input box next to the MENU AS checkbox.
*** It doesn't really matter whether that first blank page has a name, right?

Yes, the main page name is the one you'll see on the TAB… in your case, "MEDICAL".

You can name them by typing in a name next to the "menu as" checkbox… but you can also simply name the page and it will default to that name.

For example: When I create a new Bulletin I first click BULLETIN then under NEW I choose EMPTY/TEXT which inserts an 'untitled' page to my collection. I then name the page… for instance… later today I'll be adding a new bulletin and I'll name it "Apr 8, 2012"… since I've ALREADY created the collection, and menued the OTHER bulletins, the new Bulletin will automatically be added to the drop down menu BULLETINS.

Last edited by JamesJM (April 7, 2012 7:57 am)

pputnam · April 7, 2012 8:10 am

I went to my site, added a new page, checked the box and wrote in Medical. I made it a Collection . I checked all it's settings against the ones on my practice page which is working. I then dragged one of my pages that I want in the list and dropped it onto the Medical page. Checked all the settings against the second page on my practice site. All the settings exactly the same, but my site will not make the drop down menu. I just don't get it.
And as soon as I add a new page to the collection, it shows up in the tabs as it's own page.

The Plot thickens. I converted my practice site to the same design I am using on my published site and the drop down went away. Apparently that site is not supporting drop downs or else there is some other way to activate. Darn.
And thickens some more. Their description says this design does support drop downs:

The Blueball Pro Tabs v6.0 designs feature:
Sandvox 2 ready!
22 designs in bundle: 11 regular, 11 wide!
11 different color schemes!
2 page widths: 800px and 1000px.
Cool horizontal "Tabbed" Nav Menu with drop down sub menu levels!
2 larger banner image sizes: 720px by 220px, 920px by 220px.
New larger logo image size.
New Pro Tabs Dark designs set included!

Last edited by pputnam (April 7, 2012 9:16 am)

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 9:25 am

Yes, sounds like this is 'design' related. Try contacting Blueball for an answer. I have no experience with their designs. Good luck. - JamesJM

pputnam · April 7, 2012 9:27 am

Thank you for all your help.

macdafydd · April 7, 2012 10:51 am

Oh, a third-party design. In that case, get in touch with the designer. I never use third-party designs, I'm afraid.

Blueball_Design · April 7, 2012 11:39 am

macdafydd wrote:

Oh, a third-party design. In that case, get in touch with the designer. I never use third-party designs, I'm afraid.

Hi macdafydd,

Got to say I am VERY surprised to hear an uninformed negative comment from a forum moderator regarding third party Sandvox designs, especially when Karelia has always been trying to get a strong third party developers market started for designs and plugins.

Third party designs for the most part offer higher quality design layouts, better coding structure, way more flexibility, wider page widths, etc. than the default Sandvox designs do. I've been offering third party Sandvox designs for sale to the Sandvox user community since late January 2006 and have literally sold 1000s of designs. All my designs are known for their high quality and solid performance with Sandvox and with all major browsers. The same can be said for the other 2 third party Sandvox design developer's designs as well. Be sure to check out Kulersolutions.com's new responsive Sandvox 2 design as another example.

The Pro Tabs designs DO support hierarchical drop down nav menus. You can view the drop down nav menus in action on any of the 11 demo sites offered for the new version of the Pro Tabs designs bundle. Here is one demo site example to check them out on: http://sandvoxdesigns.blueballdesign.co … index.html

Sorry if this reply sounded harsh, but I was stunned by the comment you made especially with Karelia trying to encourage more developers to get involved and create third party designs and plugins now for Sandvox 2. For a moderator to make that comment you did above was not called for or warranted.

I'll email Pat direct to get his site file and see what he is doing wrong with his setup in it, and get him fixed up with Pro Tabs. Happy to help him out. It's not a problem with the Pro Tabs designs.

Best,
Charlie

.

JamesJM · April 7, 2012 12:10 pm

Well, I don't think Macdafydd was implying anything 'negative' at all… he simply stated that he hasn't used any third party designs and couldn't answer the question.

I'm in that boat as well… but it certainly doesn't mean I have anything AGAINST Blueball or any other third party developing designs or plug-ins for Sandvox… in fact I CELEBRATE that… I have MOST of the plug-ins even though I only use a couple of them.

Blueball_Design · April 7, 2012 12:16 pm

Ok I think I have determined why the problem is happening for Pat if the poodle site here shows the Pro Tabs design he is using and having the problem with: http://www.pqqdles.com/

This is an older Pro Tabs Sandvox 1.6 design and does not have any new Sandvox 2 features included in it.

We just released a brand new version of Pro Tabs this past week that was completely rebuilt and recoded to work with all of Sandvox 2's features including the drop down sub menus. This free update was sent out to all buyers of previous versions of Pro Tabs to the email address used on their original purchase.

Once you update to the latest version of Pro Tabs, install it and then apply it to your Sandvox 2 site Pat, your sub menu levels will display as expected and you'll be good to go then.

Best,
Charlie

pputnam · April 7, 2012 2:51 pm

It's been a confusing day but now I have the newest version installed and I am able to make drop-down menus. HOWEVER. The parent page, which is empty does still show up as an empty page if someone clicks on the top tab. Is there no answer to this?

Last edited by pputnam (April 7, 2012 2:52 pm)

macdafydd · April 7, 2012 3:51 pm

Blueball_Design wrote:

Got to say I am VERY surprised to hear an uninformed negative comment from a forum moderator regarding third party Sandvox designs, especially when Karelia has always been trying to get a strong third party developers market started for designs and plugins.

Charlie, all I said was that I never use third-party designs. There's no negative comment implied there, it's just a fact that I never do, so can't comment on their use. Certainly no slur intended, therefore.

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#1 April 6, 2012 1:22 pm

Drop down Menus

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#19 April 7, 2012 9:27 am

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