DotNetNuke Skin Menu Options and IE5 compatibility
In this part of my research regarding creating a complete CSS based skin it's time to look at the menu options with DNN.
Solpart menu - Is a great menu, but have you tried to view this menu in IE5.01 SP2? - The menu disappears.
If you know the majority of your website visitors will have up to date browsers then this is nothing to worry about, however if you are creating a site which is going to receive a variety of browser types then this could become a problem.
The other problem I have with the solpart menu is that it creates a lot of code and the menu uses Javascript so search engines will not be able to read the links.
Solutions?
Well you could just create standard text links but that defeats the object of using a system such as DNN!
There is another option which I am currently testing which is looking very promising and that is the House menu from the House of Nuke. This creates a CSS menu which you install just like a regular module.
The free version allows you to add the module to a page, and the premium version available from snowcovered allows you to add skin tokens to your skins and embed the menu directly within your skin, just like the Solpart menu.
I found that if you select the static menu option the menu is visible within IE5.1. The other benefit is that the search engines can read all of these links, allowing the search engines to easily index your pages.
The only problem that you may come across, as with all CSS based code, is the compatibility with browsers and the possible variations that may occur in the display of your menu.
I found that displaying the menu in IE5.1 vertically created a menu with large gaps between each menu item when using the "display: block;" code. With a hack I was able to reduce these gaps to just a few pixels, which I can live with when only a few users will be viewing the skin with this browser. - At least the users can now see the menu!
The other advantage to consider for the CSS menu is accessibility. - Visually impaired users can easily increase the text size which the menu can easily handle and screen readers should be able to easily read the list of links because they are no longer surrounded by Javascript - ie. the solpart menu.
* * * * * * * * * *
If you are looking for tutorials regarding DotNetNuke and skinning, here are 16 videos to get you started: DotNetNuke Skin Videos.
DNN Creative Magazine provides DotNetNuke tutorials, articles, reviews all for the DotNetNuke web designer. An issue is released each month. Stats: 86 Videos & 5 MP3 Interviews
Solpart menu - Is a great menu, but have you tried to view this menu in IE5.01 SP2? - The menu disappears.
If you know the majority of your website visitors will have up to date browsers then this is nothing to worry about, however if you are creating a site which is going to receive a variety of browser types then this could become a problem.
The other problem I have with the solpart menu is that it creates a lot of code and the menu uses Javascript so search engines will not be able to read the links.
Solutions?
Well you could just create standard text links but that defeats the object of using a system such as DNN!
There is another option which I am currently testing which is looking very promising and that is the House menu from the House of Nuke. This creates a CSS menu which you install just like a regular module.
The free version allows you to add the module to a page, and the premium version available from snowcovered allows you to add skin tokens to your skins and embed the menu directly within your skin, just like the Solpart menu.
I found that if you select the static menu option the menu is visible within IE5.1. The other benefit is that the search engines can read all of these links, allowing the search engines to easily index your pages.
The only problem that you may come across, as with all CSS based code, is the compatibility with browsers and the possible variations that may occur in the display of your menu.
I found that displaying the menu in IE5.1 vertically created a menu with large gaps between each menu item when using the "display: block;" code. With a hack I was able to reduce these gaps to just a few pixels, which I can live with when only a few users will be viewing the skin with this browser. - At least the users can now see the menu!
The other advantage to consider for the CSS menu is accessibility. - Visually impaired users can easily increase the text size which the menu can easily handle and screen readers should be able to easily read the list of links because they are no longer surrounded by Javascript - ie. the solpart menu.
* * * * * * * * * *
If you are looking for tutorials regarding DotNetNuke and skinning, here are 16 videos to get you started: DotNetNuke Skin Videos.
DNN Creative Magazine provides DotNetNuke tutorials, articles, reviews all for the DotNetNuke web designer. An issue is released each month. Stats: 86 Videos & 5 MP3 Interviews
posted by Lee Sykes at
10:48 am
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