Setting up vertical CSS Dropdown Menus

Editing CSS drop down menus

Support for Allwebco vertical CSS drop menu templates. Vertical CSS drop menu sites include a "menu.css" (in Chrome color theme templates this will be in your template "colors" folder (or "css" folder in older templates) and be named "(color)-menu.css").

See the help.html included with your template for the correct support link.


Vertical drop menu sample


Changing menu names or links:
You can edit all the menu and submenu titles (names) and links. Open the menu.js in Notepad or any plain text editor. Check the visual link below. You will find the link code shown part way down the menu.js.
visual menu names

Adding a new sub menu link:
If you would like to add a new item to the popup menu, first, open the menu.js in Notepad or any plain text editor. Check the visual link below. You will find the link code shown part way down the menu.js.
visual adding sub menus

Adding top level buttons:
If you would like to add a new top level menu item, or "button" on the menu, open the menu.js in Notepad or any plain text editor. Check the visual link below.
visual adding top level tabs

Menu widths:
Sub menus must all have the same width. You can however edit this width. Edit the menu.css to change this. See the visual below.
visual menu widths

Menu colors and fonts:
All the colors used on the menu area can be edited in your css files (see visual below). Edit the menu.css to edit your menu colors and fonts. You may need to also edit menu images ("menu.gif" and "menuon.gif") in the "picts" folder.

Colors and fonts in color theme templates:
See your help.html page for how to change the color theme (if you have a color theme template). On Chrome multi-color templates: Edit the "colortheme.css" to change the menu color theme.

Custom editing menu colors and fonts in theme templates:
In color theme templates: To custom edit the menu css fonts and colors, in the "colors" or "css" folder edit the "blue-menu.css" if you have the "colortheme.css" or "css.js" set for blue. Be sure to backup your files before you do any edits. You may also need to edit the "menu.gif" and "menuon.gif" (or .jpg) images in your "picts/colors" folder. Example: Edit the "menu.gif" in the "blue" folder inside the "picts" folder. All CSS color files include notes so you will know what area to edit. Also see the Chrome template help page and click the visual below.
visual menu colors

Adding a button with no dropdown menu:
Copy and paste the line in your menu.js as indicated in the visual below: First link (no sub menu)
visual no drop down

To make solid colored menus with no images:
If you do not want to use the menu.gif images for the top level buttons you can remove this code and have menu buttons that are a solid color and easy to edit. See visual below:
visual solid colors

Adding a button that opens in a new window:
Your menu may include a sample new window link for the "PDF help files" menu item in your menu.js. New window links have this extra code highlighted below to open in a new browser window:

document.write('<li><a href="PDFgallery.htm" target="_blank">PDF help files</a></li>');


Drop menus & mobile devices:
All Allwebco drop menu templates include page links for the top level menus as shown in the "Changing menu names or links" section above on this page. Because some phones do not include a hover feature for drop menus to pop open, it is recommended that you leave the top level links in place so clients on devices can still go to the top level pages. You may want to carefully consider what page each top level menu links to.

It is also recommended that you include a link to the "site map" html page as a top level link, and list all your pages on the "site map" html page for high mobile device and tablet compatibility.


Two options for making the top level not link:
Optionally, if you do not want the top level menu button to link to any page, you can use a "#" for the page name as in this example:

This type of link may refresh the webpage:

<li>    <a href="#">Home</a>

For more mobile compatibility it may be better to use "javascript:void(0)" instead. Use the following code to make a top level menu button not link, and not refresh the webpage.

Example non-refreshing link in the menu.js:

<li>    <a href="javascript:void(0)">Home</a>


Multi-Level drop menus:
With the CSS drop menus you can add another level to the drop menus. Allwebco does not provide support for this type of editing and it is suggested that only experienced users try this type of menu. Below are some options for using this multi-level menu.

Note: Make a backup of your "menu.js" and your "menu.css" before you start editing.

UPDATES: Some older Allwebco templates may not include the "3LEVEL" files as indicated below. Please contact us if you would like the 3rd level menu files sent to you.

  1. RECOMMENDED: If your template has an "extras" folder: You will find a file named "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.txt" or "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.js". Copy this file into your main template folder. Rename your "menu.js" to "menu-old.js" and rename the "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.txt" (or .js) to "menu.js".

    If your template extras folder also includes a "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.css" copy that to the main template folder and rename it to "menu.css" or "drop-menu.css" depending on what your template is using.

  2. EXPERIENCED USERS ONLY: If your template DOES NOT and never included a "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.js" in your "extras" folder, or does not have an "extras" folder: It is suggested that only experienced users try this type of menu. We have provided a zip file with a "menu.js" and "menu.css" that have this next level setup if you want to give this a try. Click to download the css-menu-2-LEVEL.zip (this menu will not work on CSS menus that include little arrows. See paragraph above.)

  3. EXPERIENCED USERS ONLY: In your template "extras" folder: Copy the 3rd level code near the bottom of the "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.css" in the extras and add the code to your menu.css. Copy 3rd level menu link groups out of the "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.js" in the "extras" folder and paste them into your current "menu.js". Copy the script at the bottom of the "menu-3LEVEL-SAMPLE.js" and overwrite the script at the bottom of your "menu.js".

  4. Note: Be sure to test your changes in different browsers.


Drop menus layer issues:
If your drop menus appear under a webpage element like a video or slideshow or other page element, locate the following class and increase the z-index number, or if you do not have a z-index, add the z-index code as highlighted in red in the samples below.

Horizontal Style ***-menu.css:
/* SUB LEVEL OUTER BORDER */

#menunav li ul 		{
			z-index: 50;
			position: absolute;
			left: -999em;
			height: auto;
			width: 160px;
			border: solid #000000;
			border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px;
			/* NOTE: BORDERs ABOVE ARE | top | right | bottom | left */
			margin: 0;
			}
Vertical Style menu.css:
ul#top-nav li      {
	       position: relative;
	       z-index: 50;
	       list-style: none;
	       }



Related Topics:
Links Not Working After an Edit
Adding and Removing Pages
Editing .js Files
Javascript Drop Menu Help