NavWinButton is a extremely versatile applet that is both easy to use and rich in feature. Web developers can choose between four distinct layouts. Buttons can be used with or without images. Button descriptions are automatically centered and can stretch over several lines. Greyscale icons are created by the applet and displayed when the mouse is not over the button, creating an interface similar to Internet Explorer that is familiar to most Internet users. Menus can overlap over HTML content and several level of menus can be created easily to meet the needs of any professional web site.
NavWinButton is available in 2 versions : the freeware version and the registered version. The freeware version, which contains a link to our home page, is intended for non-commercial use by personal home pages and non-profit organisations. The registered version, in which the link is removed, may be purchased using the online order form. Additional information as well as the latest version of the applet could be found at NavSurf.com.
This section contains important information about configuring the applet. To install the applet, you need to copy the example code in parameter.html to your html page and modify the parameters according to your preferences. You also need to modify or the text file containing information about the menus or create a new one.
Convention and Format of the text file
The convention used in the text file is as follows:
; : denotes the level of the menu itemThe format for each menu item is defined in the following way
Description | Format | Details |
Button Format 1 | :Button description|Image for the button icon| | Buttons are always level 1. GIF images are preferred because of the greyscale images created. Use the "~" sign to indicate that button icons are not used. If no url is specified, it is assumed that the clicking on the button will open up a menu. |
Button Format 2 | :Button description|Image for the button icon|URL|Target frame or window | URL is specified for the button. This means that clicking on the button will open a page in the target frame or window. If the target frame is not specified, the page will open up in the frame or window specified by the "target" parameter. |
Menu Item Format 1 | ::Item description|URL|Target frame or window | URL is specified for the menu item. This means that clicking on the item will open a page in the target frame or window. If the target frame is not specified, the page will open up in the frame or window specified by the "target" parameter. |
Menu Item Format 2 | ::Item description | This means that the moving the mouse on the item will open up a new menu. Items in that menu must be defined directly after this item. Their level is one level higher than this item (by adding an additional ":"). |
Separator Format | ::- | Adds a menu separator |
Please refer to the example text files for more information.
How to get the link to open in a new window?
To open a link in a new window, the "target" parameter should be set to "_blank".
<param name="target" value="_blank">
How to get the link to open in the same window?
To open a link in the same window, the "target" parameter should be set to "_self".
<param name="target" value="_self">
How to get the applet to work with frames?
The default target frame can be specified by using either the parameter "target". You could also specify a target frame or window for specific menu items using "Menu(i)Target" or "Menu(i)Target(j)". More information can be obtained from the HTML files in the downloaded files.
Please note that values such as "_blank", "self" and "_top" are already predefined by the HTML standard . If the name of the target frame is "mainframe", the value should be "mainframe" instead of "_mainframe". There is NO underscore for names that are not predefined, as is the case for HTML tags.
How to remove the "About the applet" menu item
The link credit may be removed by the purchase of the registered version of the applet at the web site. Please refer to NavSurf.com for additional information.
How do I add the applet onto my page using visual (WYSIWYG) html editor?
Copy the code, change to the HTML view and paste it after the body tag. If you require any additional information, please consult the documentation of the web publishing software.
Is there any way to display the menus outside the allocated space?
Java applets are only allowed to operate within the confined space except for popup menus. As it offers limited configurability, NavWinButton is the only applet that uses the popup menu interface.
The server does not accept file names with "$" in them
This problem could be solved by compressing all the class files in a zip archive. Please refer to the installation instructions for further information.
The applet works fine under Internet Explorer but some menus do not appear under Netscape Navigator
Internet Explorer is more tolerant to syntax errors than Netscape. If the applet works fine under Internet Explorer but not Netscape, this may de due to a small error somewhere : missing values, no closing tag etc.
Is it possible to have the source code for the applet?
The source code for certain freeware applets are available. Source code for navigation applets are NOT available. Note that the source code is not required for the configuration and the use of the applet.
Error messages appear and the applet does not run under Netscape.
This is an existing problem in some versions of Netscape which prevents applets from running correctly. Please refer to the technical support of Netscape for more information.
Please contact us if you come across any issues that has not been been covered in this page. Feedback and suggestions are most welcome.