Flash Dropdown Menu's

Hey everyone, I know recently I've been working on many side projects to start back up a small business for myself (I personally believe everyone should have one to bring in atleast a little more cash on the side) and I'm starting up SpyderOnline again (domain to hopefully be SpyderOnline.net).

Anyways, as of right now.. I'm working on the "mainframe" website for the network. I plan to have consulting, marketing, web design, and a list of other services available. Anyways, enough background information. Right now I'm working on the website, and I'm looking to include a "fancy" flash dropdown menu. I was wondering if anyone happened to know any sites that may provide any or any advice as to what I could do. I've never really worked with Flash, and any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, and I anticipate any responses.. :)

Hey Hey,

Are you looking for true flash ... or using the word flash because everyone seems to assume everything dynamic on a page these days is flash?

The setup I used on my business start-up (which is still in pre-start-up mode... it's easy to abandon something because work gets in the way).... anyways... The menu system I used is really simple to work with... and very simple to implement..

http://www.hometownlondon.com

Peace,
HT

Actually, IMO I think php is more dynamic on a webpage (to be honest). PHP scripts are ten times better for websites than flash.. thus why I'm new to it and seeking advice. :D

Quote:

---

(which is still in pre-start-up mode... it's easy to abandon something because work gets in the way)

---

You've never spoken a more true word, HTregz. :D


Anyways, I like your menu setup. That's around something I'd want except perhaps different font/font colors/background/etc.. the small things of it. Any other suggestions, comments, advice, help?

Hi Spyder, I don't recommend using flash menus. If you want your site to rank higher in the search engines list, avoid flash for linking webpages. Flash menus can't be crawled by the search engine spiders. Use DHTML menus instead. Most of them are visible to spiders.

Check out these links for Drop down menus :-

http://www.milonic.com/

http://www.seoconsultants.com/css/menus/horizontal/



- :S:

DHTML menus are more efficient for search engine spiders, really? Heh...

Anyways, thanks for the links and for the advice.

Hi Spyder,

You might want to take a read on this...

http://www.highrankings.com/forum/in...howtopic=18481
Alternative To Drop-down Menus... -> High Rankings® Search Engine Optimization Forum

and this site apparently offers a variety of free DHTML drop down menus...

http://www.milonic.com/
Free DHTML Menu - JavaScript Website Cross Browser Popup Web Menus

Eg ;)

ok some problems with a Flash Drop down menu

1. As people have said it cant be spidered by search engines
2. People without the flash plugin (such as those using screen-readers) will not be able to navigate your site
3. You will always have to allow enough room for the full extended flash before the rest of your content - for example, if your flash is 150px high when fully extended (when the lowest menu item is shown) and it is only 25px high when all are collapsed you will still have to allow 150px for the file at all times. It can not overlap the content on your site. Therefore when it is collapsed you are going to have 125px of dead space.

If you must have a drop down menu then I suggest using valid XHTML/CSS

take a look here for a starter -> http://www.seoconsultants.com/css/menus/tutorial/