MenuMachine 2 workflow

Work right inside GoLive

With MenuMachine 2, all the menu creation, editing, saving and placing is done inside GoLive using the MenuMachine palettes which seamlessly integrates with your GoLive workspace.

You do not have to open any other applications, edit any text files or copy and paste code. Let's take a look at the process…

1. Open a GoLive site

Always work with the GoLive Site window open. Using a GoLive site ensures that you can take advantage of Golive's built-in link management.

2. Open the MenuMachine Objects Palette

The first step to using menus is to open the MenuMachine Objects Palette.

3. Create the first Menu for the site

The MenuMachine Objects Palette will prompt you to use the New Menu button to make the first menu for the open site.

4. Start the Menu in the MenuMachine Editor

When you use the New Menu button in the MenuMachine Objects Palette, the Menu Editor will open at the Start Panel. This is where you set up the Menu.

Follow the steps to 1. name the menu, 2. select a theme, 3. preview the theme and 4. OK your selections.

When you press the arrow button to proceed, all the MenuMachine support files will then be automatically saved into your site and you will be taken to the next Panel in the MenuMachine Editor.

5. Edit the Menu in the MenuMachine 2 Editor

The Edit Panel is the second panel in the MenuMachine Editor.

This is where you customize your menu. Here you can create the menu items, add colors, borders, images, links, effects, browser behavior etc.

6. Preview the Menu in the Editor or a Browser

As you work you want to be able to see how your menu is going to look in a browser. You can preview your menu as you work by going to the Preview Panel in the MenuMachine Editor. You can view your Menu on your choice of background color and interact with the Menu.

To see your menu in a specific browser, use the Preview in Default Browser button to see the Menu in GoLive's default browser or your system's default browser.

7. Save the Menu

Save the Menu using the Save button in the Edit Panel or go to the Save Panel for additional ways to save the Menu.

The Save Panel allows you to Save, Save As… or Save As Theme to use the settings of a menu in this site for another site.

When you close the MenuMachine 2 Editor, your new menu will be available to be placed on pages in your site.

8. Place and position the menu on the page

All menus created for your current site will be available in the MenuMachine 2 Objects Palette. Just drag the menu object from the palette into your page. It's as simple as placing an image!

You can place the menu object inside another container such as a table cell or layer and use any positioning method you like.

9. Preview the menu in the page

The menu can be seen in your page with the submenus hidden. This makes placement accurate and truly indicative of how your page will look when first seen by your site visitors.

10. Add GoLive actions to the menu in the page

If you want to have your menu items trigger actions in the page, set this up in the MenuMachine 2 Inspector. Create Head Actions and then use the hierarchy-view of the menu to select an item and attach the Head Action to the Mouse Over, Mouse Click or Mouse Exit event.

11. Preview your page in a browser

When you preview your pages in a browser, you will be able to see your menu working and see rollovers, animation effects and highlighting.

Note that menus don't affect your page layout - they won't enlarge containers they are in. When expanded, menus wil "float" above other page elements.

12. Upload files to web server

When you create and edit menus, MenuMachine automatically generates a folder called menumachine at the root level of your site. When you are ready to upload your pages containing menus you also need to upload the menumachine folder so your menus can work online.

When you edit menu, you no longer need to re-upload every page which uses that menu. Simply re-upload the menumachine folder and your changes will take place instantly.

That's it!

If you need to go back and make changes to the menu later, you simply double-click on the menu name in MenuMachine 2 Objects palette. This opens the MenuMachine Editor and you can make your changes.

Don't forget – changes to menus are made site-wide and you don't have to upload all your pages again.

If you need to use the same menu in another site, you can save it as a Theme.

For full instuctions and details on all the features, download the PDF User Guide here.