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Exley22
Exley22
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Active class on main menu using templates or library items

Jul 20, 2012 4:25 PM

Is there a way to include the main menu of a website in a template or a library item and be able to put a class of active on the current page? Since both templates and library items funciton by applying the whats in them across the entire site, and the active class will only be on an individual page I have been unable to figure out a way to do this.

855 Views   9 Replies   Latest reply: Nancy O., Jul 21, 2012 11:11 AM
 
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  • John Waller
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    1. John Waller,
    Jul 20, 2012 6:00 PM   in reply to Exley22
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    In CSS, active means onmouseclick (the momentary action of clicking a mouse button when the cursor is pointing to a link).

     

    I think what you're looking for is actually a persistent page indicator.

     

    http://alt-web.com/Articles/Persistent-Page-Indicator.shtml

     
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  • Exley22
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    2. Exley22,
    Jul 21, 2012 3:27 AM   in reply to John Waller
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    Yes this is what I meant, though I obviously didn't express myself correctly. I usually name the class "active" or "current" to indicate the page being viewed.

     

    Your link does not answer my question regarding how to do this withing templates or library items though. I suspect that, as usual, a seemingly fantastic timesaver in Dreamweaver will drop the ball in one critical area rendering the feature useless.

     
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  • John Waller
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    3. John Waller,
    Jul 21, 2012 3:34 AM   in reply to Exley22
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    Exley22 wrote:

     

    Your link does not answer my question regarding how to do this withing templates or library items though

    It does the way I read it.

     

    "NOTE: To make the body class editable in a Dreamweaver Template (.dwt), you'll need to specify an editable tag attribute in your Template (click on screenshots below for details)."

     
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  • Exley22
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    4. Exley22,
    Jul 21, 2012 3:40 AM   in reply to John Waller
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    Your are correct! I should have read the whole article instead of the first couple of sentences. Sorry.

     
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  • Ben Pleysier
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    5. Ben Pleysier,
    Jul 21, 2012 3:46 AM   in reply to Exley22
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    There is also a method that compares the url with the link and if both are the same it will automatically give the menu item an active class.

     

    That method has been used here http://accufire.com.au/

     

    Gramps

     
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  • Exley22
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    6. Exley22,
    Jul 21, 2012 3:49 AM   in reply to Ben Pleysier
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    Thanks Gramps. I looks like Accufire is using the method linked to by John Waller.

     
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  • Ben Pleysier
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    7. Ben Pleysier,
    Jul 21, 2012 4:03 AM   in reply to Exley22
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    No, it is not the same, but I did not mean to confuse the issue, just supply an alternative if desired.

     

    Nancy's (alt-web) way is to give each of the links a unique class and apply style rules to those classes.

     

    To summarise the differences

    • Nancy: (for want a better name): you need to physically attach a class to each menu item
    • Accufire: attaching a class to the current menu item is done automatically.

     

    Gramps

     
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  • Exley22
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    8. Exley22,
    Jul 21, 2012 4:34 AM   in reply to Ben Pleysier
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    I see Gramps. Accufire is using a Spry menu. The alt-web article proceedure is for non-Spry, non-javascript menus, which is more what I was interested in.

     
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  • Nancy O.
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    9. Nancy O.,
    Jul 21, 2012 11:11 AM   in reply to Exley22
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    Either method will work with any CSS menu be it Spry, jQuery, PVII, etc...

     

     

    Nancy O.

    Alt-Web Design & Publishing

    Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists 

    http://alt-web.com/

     
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