Usable Web Menus

by Jon Stephens

• ISBN13: 9781904151029
• ISBN10: 1904151027
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-03-28
• Publisher: WROX

Summary

Discusses Web menu design, information architecture, and user testing, and provides design tutorials using XML, ASP, and PHP.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
Who is This Book for?	2	(1)
What's Covered/Chapter Synopsis	2	(1)
Conventions	3	(2)
Support/Feedback	5	(1)
Web Support	5	(4)
Rules for Good Menu Design	9	(26)
Usable Web Menus	10	(1)
Rules for Web Menu Usability	11	(22)
Summary	33	(2)
Information Architecture for Menus	35	(20)
Challenges in Making Menus Meaningful	36	(10)
Setting Your Priorities	38	(1)
Understanding Your Target User	39	(1)
Why Is the User Here?	39	(3)
What Technology Does the User Have?	42	(1)
What Does the User Know Already?	43	(1)
Who Else Will See This Site?	44	(1)
Dealing with Existing Content	45	(1)
Information Architecture for Menus	46	(1)
Putting IA To Work On Your Menus	47	(5)
Depth in Navigation	50	(2)
Testing to Verify Your Design Decisions	52	(1)
Summary	53	(2)
Basic JavaScript Menus	55	(36)
A Brief, Aside Into JavaScript, DHTML, and CSS	55	(2)
Text Link Example with CSS	57	(1)
An Image Rollover Menu	58	(4)
Using a Sidebar Rollover Image	62	(2)
An ``Intelligent'' Menu	64	(6)
Menus Using Form Elements	70	(17)
A Basic Button Menu	71	(3)
Radiobutton Menus	74	(1)
A Basic ``Jump Menu''	75	(3)
A Jump Menu with Intelligence	78	(3)
A Double Jump Menu	81	(6)
Summary	87	(4)
What's Ahead	88	(3)
Menus with Advanced Scripting and DHTML	91	(60)
CSS Basics	92	(19)
CSS Example 1: Choosing a Stylesheet	93	(2)
Generic Cookie Functions	95	(3)
Using a Cookie To Set a Stylesheet Preference	98	(5)
CSS Example 2: Choosing a Stylesheet (Advanced Browsers)	103	(8)
Image Maps	111	(18)
Image Map Example 1	113	(1)
Image Map Example 2: Tabbed Display Menu	114	(8)
Image Map Example 3: Floating Menu	122	(7)
Expanding/Collapsing Menus	129	(19)
Expanding/Collapsing Menu Example 1	130	(10)
Expanding/Collapsing Menu Example 2	140	(8)
Summary	148	(3)
Flash Menus	151	(34)
Flash and Usability	151	(1)
Dynamic Flash Menus	152	(11)
The Primary Navigation Button	153	(1)
Completing the Primary Navigation Element	154	(1)
Generating the Menu Entries	155	(1)
Building the Interface	155	(1)
Primary Navigation	155	(1)
Secondary Navigation	156	(2)
Behavior Clips	158	(1)
Activating and Deactivating the Submenus	159	(4)
Introducing XML	163	(9)
The Rules of XML	165	(1)
XML-based Menu	165	(1)
Creating our XML	166	(1)
Loading our XML into Flash	167	(5)
Databases, XML & Flash	172	(11)
Setting up our Database	172	(2)
PHP Middleware	174	(1)
Introducing the Database To the Middleware	175	(8)
Summary	183	(2)
Dynamic Server-Side Menus	185	(30)
The Tools Available	186	(5)
XML	186	(1)
PHP	186	(1)
ASP	187	(1)
Databases	187	(1)
MySQL	188	(1)
Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL)	188	(1)
PHP+MySQL and phpMyAdmin	189	(1)
Setting Up the Database Tables and Running Queries	190	(1)
Accessing SQL Server with Enterprise Manager	191	(1)
Breadcrumb Trails	191	(10)
PHP/MySQL Breadcrumb Trail Header	192	(3)
ASP/SQL Server Breadcrumb Trail Header	195	(2)
ASP/XML Breadcrumb Trail Header	197	(4)
Advanced Example-Populating a Client-side Script	201	(10)
Advanced PHP/MySQL Example	202	(5)
Advanced ASP/SQL Server Example	207	(2)
Advanced ASP/XML Example	209	(2)
Future Work-ASP.NET	211	(1)
Summary	212	(3)
Resources	215	(6)
Index	221