help needed (navigation design problems)

[markhallgate]

hello,
i have been trying for ages to make a new nav bar for my site as i am adding a lot of new pages, i am a terrible designer but have tried to create an asthetically pleasing bar, please give me some feedback on it, and fell free to be honest and tell me if it is c$ap.
you can view it on www.hallgate-timber.co.uk/temp.htm
thanks, mark.

[ADAM Web Design]

I think you've got the right concept with your DHTML menu. However, I'd scrap the code and redo the code from scratch. Dreamweaver code is horrendous at the best of times, and it's certainly not helping you in this instance.

What I would do if I were you is apply the inner bevel style to your main menu items, and your submenus only if/when they're hovered over. Load a plain background colour as default for your submenus and they'll fly out a lot more quickly.

To see an example of what I'm referring to, go to www.tscst.org . The menu itself has a gradient (and a slight bevel), but the submenu is plain until each item in it is hovered over. Then you get the bevel coming out of it. I had it the way you did originally, and the speed of the menu was just horrible.

[paulhiles]

I agree with Adam's comments above, why not try a cleaner alternative to all that cludgy DW code? Why not take a look at easymenu.co.uk? You can make semantically correct xhtml/css menus free of charge. Download the application to your own PC, or build your own menus online. Definitely worth a visit!

Paul

[markhallgate]

hello, thanks for the advice from both of you,
i tried to use the easymenu but i couldnt get it to go horizontal, i have now gone with a demo version of Xara ( i will buy it if you think the menu is ok). i have taken your advice and flatened the drop down menus, i think the code is better than before, i have up loaded it to the same page, please let me know what you think, and thanks again,
mark.:)

[paulhiles]

Hi again Mark,

I think I'd keep the lighter text on the image rollover, the dark text is quite difficult to read. Regarding the easymenu script, you can see an example of a horizontal menu on a recent site of mine.

Ooops... and I spotted a typo on "Spiral Staircases" it seems to have an extra "s" in there at the moment!

Paul

[markhallgate]

hello,
i have sorted the typos now, i also found two wrong url's oops.
i have made the text lighter as well and it has made a big improvement i think. I have now purchased Xara and updated the whole site ( i think i got every page). Thanks for the advice it helped me loads! :)