<< back to knowledgebase home

How to make links open in a new browser window (MM2)

Article Applies To:

MenuMachine 2 only

GoLive CS, CS2

Mac, Windows

Article ID: 000137

Category: Menu Editing Issues

Issue

If you have a link in a menu item and you would like to open the linked page in a new window, there are two ways to do this with MenuMachine 2.

Solution

Method A.
To open a linked page in a new browser window:

If you simply want the linked page to open in a new browser window and you don't need to control any attributes of the new window, follow these instructions:

  1. Open the menu in the MenuMachine 2 Menu Editor.
  2. Enter the link in the Link Field as usual using the pick-whip.
  3. Use the pull-down menu next to the Target field and choose _blank.

This will make the linked page open in a new browser window for all instances of the menu. You do not need to edit the menu in your pages.


Method B.
To open a linked page in a new browser window and control the attributes of the window:

If you want the linked page to open in a new browser window and you need to control any attributes of the new window such as the size, whether or not the window has scrollbars, a URL field, menus, can be resized etc., follow these instructions.

Note: If you choose to use this method, preferably you would set up the Head Action in a Component which contains an instance of the menu. If you place the Component on a page, the Head Action will also be placed in the page and you will not have to edit every page to link the Action to the menu.

  1. Open the page which contains the menu.
  2. Open the page (or Component) in Layout View.
  3. Use the disclosure triangle to reveal the Head section.
  4. Drag a Head Action from the GoLive Objects Palette > Smart Set into the Head section.
  5. Open the Actions Palette.
  6. With the Head Action selected, go to the Actions Palette and make sure the Event is set to On Call.
  7. Name the action. Do not use spaces or non-alphanumeric characters and don't start the action name with a number.
  8. From the Action pull-down menu, choose Open Window (it is in the set of actions called Link).
  9. Enter the URL for the page you want to open in the Link field.
  10. Enter _blank into the Target field.
  11. Set the Width and Height of the new window.
  12. You may need to enlarge the Actions Palette to see more options. Check or uncheck options as required.
  13. Open the menu in the MenuMachine 2 Menu Editor.
  14. In the Link field enter a # symbol.
  15. The Target field should be empty.
  16. Save and Close the menu.
  17. Place the menu in the page (or Component).
  18. Click on the menu and go to the Inspector. Click on the Actions tab.
  19. Select the menu item to which you gave the # link. You can now apply your Open Window action to one of the mouse events for that menu item - Mouse Over, Mouse Click or Mouse Out. You should see the name of your Head Action in the pull-down menus for the events. Apply the action to one of the events.
  20. Save the page and test in browsers. Edit the Head Action as required.
  21. If the menu is in a Component, place the Component on other pages in your site.


Note: If you place the menu in a Component and then place the Component in other pages, you will not be able to apply any of the other page-based features such as Frame Support or Highlighting. If you need to use those features and Actions, you will need to place a menu instance in each page and set up Head Actions in each page.

Last updated: September 25, 2006

This article has been viewed 8547 times.

Related articles