Ulead MENU.APPLET User Manual

Table of Contents

Welcome to Menu.Applet ................................................................................ 2

Why Java™-based menus? .............................................................................. 2

Basic terminology ........................................................................................... 2

Getting to know Menu.Applet .......................................................................... 4

Creating a new menu applet............................................................................ 5

Applet Properties Panel: General Tab.................................................................................................... 5

Background Tab ................................................................................................................................... 6

Options Tab (Slider menu only) ........................................................................................................... 7

Creating a new Slider menu ............................................................................ 8

Item Tab ............................................................................................................................................... 9

Level - General Tab ............................................................................................................................... 9

Level – Icon Tab ................................................................................................................................. 10

Level – Event Tab ................................................................................................................................ 10

Creating a Pop-up menu ............................................................................... 11

Item Tab ............................................................................................................................................. 12

Main Menu Tab (First level menu only) .............................................................................................. 12

Level - General Tab ............................................................................................................................. 13

Level – Color Tab................................................................................................................................ 13

Using HTML frames ....................................................................................... 14

Saving your work .......................................................................................... 15

Welcome to Menu.Applet

Welcome to Ulead’s Menu.Applet, a powerful Java™-based application program that lets you create active slider and pop-up menus for your Web pages with maximum ease and a minimum of fuss. Menu.Applet is designed to help even novice users create stunning Web sites and add impressive effects – without having to write a single line of code.

Why Java™-based menus?

Menus rarely follow the one-level format of one parent item – many child items. More often than not, one menu item leads to more options, creating multi-level menus that would be difficult to lay out using traditional text and image–based methods, as these require all menu items to be displayed simultaneously. This results in increased Web page sizes and a cluttered appearance.

Java-based menus were developed to provide Web authors with an easy way to place menus with 2 or more submenus by hiding submenu items and showing them only when clicked. Not only are these menus functional; they are an eye-catching and dynamic element in any Web site.

Basic terminology

Following is a list of common terminology used throughout this user guide:

Menu Interactive lists that display a number of choices for users (in this case, Internet Web surfers) to choose from. When selected, each choice then displays a graphic image, a media clip, a download action, or another Web page.

Menu Items Options listed in a menu. In most cases, further options (submenus) are found within these choices, bringing about a multi-level menu.

Pop-up Menu A menu that displays its submenus only on mouseover.

Pop-up Menu example

menu item

submenu items

Slider Menu example

These menu items are all Parent items. Menus found

under Children items are called submenus. For example, “2000” is a submenu of “Archives”.

These menu items

are Sibling items of each other, and Children items of the “2000” menu item.

are Sibling items of each other, and Children items of the “Archives” menu item. “2000” is a

Parent item of the expanded green

menu.

Slider Menu expands its submenus by gliding its contents out from a specified point.

Mouse actions Events that take place when users perform specific mouse-related actions, such as mouseover and mousedown (see below). Common events include change in text color, background image, text style or even the text itself.

Normal state

The state when there is no mouse action.

Mouseover state

The state when the mouse pointer is placed on the menu item, but is not clicked.

Mousedown state

The state when the menu item is clicked.

Getting to know Menu.Applet

T o help you get started, this section provides an initial overview of the Menu.Applet interface. First, let’s look at a typical Menu.Applet workspace:

Item Tree View Panel

Compose/ Preview Panel

Properties Panel

The Menu.Applet workspace contains three main panels: Item Tr ee V iew Panel, Properties Panel, and Compose/Pr eview Panel.

• Item T r ee View Panel Displays the layout of the menu items in a flowchart diagram

showing the various menu items and submenus. Add menu and submenu items (child and/or sibling items) to your menu in this panel.

• Properties Panel Configure and customize the applet and menu items in this panel.

Preferences for dimension, color, background and behavior of each item can be set using this panel.

• Compose/Preview Panel Display the layout of your menu in two modes: Compose

(layout only) or Preview (shows a running version). Correct errors, fine-tune settings, and preview menus through this panel.

Note:

You must have Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or above to be able to preview your work in

the Preview panel.

Creating a new menu applet

1. Click File : New or press [CTRL + N].

2. In the New Applet dialog box, select the type of menu applet to create (Slider or Pop-up), or click Template to open an existing template.

3. A blank applet will be displayed. Its attributes can be adjusted in the Properties Panel. The following section provides further details on defining the applet’s attributes.

Note:

There are three tabs for Slider Menu: General, Background, and Options. For Pop-up

Menu, only the General and Background tabs are available.

Applet Properties Panel: General Tab

The General T ab for Slider Menus is dif ferent from the General Tab for Pop-up Menus in that it has fewer options.

• Dimensions The applet’s width and height in pixels.

• Loading message The message that will be displayed while the applet is being loaded into the W eb page.

• Smooth pop-up (Pop-up menu only) If enabled, the pop-up submenu will glide out on mouseover. Leaving this box clear will cause the entire submenu to be displayed instantly.

Slider Menu Applet Properties Panel: General Tab

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