Help needed on webpage menus.

[sprintmp]

Hi

I am helping a charity organisation (www.united-voices.org.uk) convert its web pages from a CMS system to HTML based. The final HTML pages are going to be edited by non-techies using Front Page. I’m doing this in my spare time for free.

I am having problems finding system that will help generate the menus in the format that they currently are – Vertical - Expanding - 3 layer. You can see what I mean by going to the site, clicking on Slough and then Member’s Pages.

I have set a template up to use Frames – 1 across the top, 2 in the middle and 1 across the bottom. The two middle ones are called menu and main. Menu will contain the menu, and main will display the pages, so menu selection will need to open pages in the main frame.

The main requisite for this is that it has to be easy for the non-techies to edit the menu – adding links etc. It also needs to be cross platform and cross browser - and of course free.

I’ve looked at sites such as DynamicDrive and some of the Java sites, but although they all have menus, none have exactly what I need. Can anyone help please?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Pietro

[rednotdead]

Can't help with your problem but I am interested why the decison was made to move from a CMS to html?

[slapmatt]

rednotdead said:

Can't help with your problem but I am interested why the decison was made to move from a CMS to html?

And the decision to use frames

[sprintmp]

The frames decision was mine. Not absolutly nessessary, and I'm thinking more trouble than its worth. However it would help them if the menu code, header & footer were unavailable for them to accidentally edit on the screen. Some of these pages are going to be edited by people with learning difficulities, and I needed to keep it as simple as possible.

They are moving from the CMS because it's quite old and difficult to use.

Pietro

[rednotdead]

Have you checked out some of the newer CMS's - joomla and the like? Would probably save a lot of hassle moving to one of those rather than html for your application.

Edited by rednotdead on Thursday 2nd November 15:05

[zoidberg]

Can I be bold enough to make an unrelated suggestion?

Ditch the comic sans font.

If you changed it to arial or verdana, it would give your site an instant makeover and appear far more professional.

All IMHO of course

[sprintmp]

Thanks for the replies.

The decision to use FrontPage was not mine - and they have now purchased the software.

Yes agree Comic is not the best, but you need to remember who we are dealing with - if you see what I mean. It's difficult to take off my professional hat, but in this case I must. The members of United Voices make the decisions.

I'm not being condesending when I say that the people that I am dealing with are fantastic and just for them to use a computer is pretty amazing. Some of these guys could teach the vermin in our society a thing or two and I see it as an honour for me to be able to help them.

[rednotdead]

fairy nuff - good luck with the project.