Webpage help

Mosskat

Member
Okay, I really hope people will be able to follow me here...

I am coding my page from scratch basically - and teaching myself as I go along but I have hit a brick wall.


In the past, I would have used frames to achieve the affect I'm trying to pull off but as we all know frames died a horrible flaming death. The question is now - what do people use for alternatives when they want one set of information- say a nav bar, to stay put while the information being displayed changes?

I've seen a javascript code that supposedly did this but I've been advised that Javascript should be used as little as possible and ONLY to spruce up a page. That being said, what would you lovely coding types suggest? If you could point me in the right direction I can actually go research it but the problem is, at this point, I don't -where- to start looking.

Much appreciation in advance and please be kind, I really am a noob when it comes to coding... (but I want to learn)
 
Why the objection to scrolling pages?, A vertical scrolling page is part and parcel of the end user experience on perhaps 90% of websites, and is very common place in the majority of computer apps and software. if your concerned about end users having to scroll to the very top on very long pages simply use a link to a named anchor to jump the end user back to your navigation.

If you feel that you information would be better presented in a tabbed system you may wish to consider...
Tabs - jQuery plugin for accessible, unobtrusive tabs
 
Sunburn said:
Why the objection to scrolling pages?, A vertical scrolling page is part and parcel of the end user experience on perhaps 90% of websites, and is very common place in the majority of computer apps and software. if your concerned about end users having to scroll to the very top on very long pages simply use a link to a named anchor to jump the end user back to your navigation.

If you feel that you information would be better presented in a tabbed system you may wish to consider...
Tabs - jQuery plugin for accessible, unobtrusive tabs
I have no problem to scrolling pages, I have a problem with frames. :)
Everyone and all the research I've done says that it makes for a very sloppy webpage, not to mention search engines have a hard time finding you.
 
Ok let me re-phrase, why would you want a " nav bar (or other element), to stay put while the information being displayed changes" ?

Im just trying to understand the logic behind your choice of trying to make something fixed on the page when nearly all modern web solutions allow things to scroll and adapt to the end user, or at least behave in a way that is intuitive to the end user process.
 
But why wouldn't I? What if I was coding a webpage for a shop? wouldn't you want the navgiation to remain in one place while the items on display change? Certainly, if you can suggest an alternative that would work better, I'm very keen to listen! :)
 
I still dont understand why you need a fixed navigation solution, is it a PREFERENCE or REQUIREMENT of the site or is it a personal choice, preference, if its a preference, then you should be considering your end users requirement, expectations, and experiences, based upon good research, and not your own opinion, if its design need, then you need to rethink the design imho, if its a technical need, then i have provided a couple of links at the end of this post to help you.

As apoint of reference....
Take a look a the majority of sites.... for example...

BBC - Homepage
Amazon.co.uk: low prices in Electronics, Books, Music, DVDs & more
Welcome to the White House
Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | Experiments with cascading style sheets | Doing it with Style

this is a broad spectrum of web sites and which have been designed and developed for a broad spectrum of user base, they don't implement a fixed navigation. Its redundant and causes a whole range practical problems, Do you really NEED a fixed position navigation bar or do you WANT one?

Have a look at the above list and try to understand why they have chosen not to use your intended solution, sites like amazon, who make millions, and spend thousands of pounds per year on user reasearch and testing cant be wrong can they?

Ultimatly, feel free to design / develop your site the way you see fit, to which if you want a navigation solution that is always fixed you will need at least some funky css or a overly converluted js solution, and at worst a hybrid solution combining both with many browser issues thrown in for good measure.

Positioning Elements with CSS - Fixed - Absolute - Relative
Sticky sidebar or box
 
Sunburn said:
I still dont understand why you need a fixed navigation solution, is it a PREFERENCE or REQUIREMENT of the site or is it a personal choice, preference, if its a preference, then you should be considering your end users requirement, expectations, and experiences, based upon good research, and not your own opinion, if its design need, then you need to rethink the design imho, if its a technical need, then i have provided a couple of links at the end of this post to help you.

As apoint of reference....
Take a look a the majority of sites.... for example...

BBC - Homepage
Amazon.co.uk: low prices in Electronics, Books, Music, DVDs & more
Welcome to the White House
Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | Experiments with cascading style sheets | Doing it with Style

this is a broad spectrum of web sites and which have been designed and developed for a broad spectrum of user base, they don't implement a fixed navigation. Its redundant and causes a whole range practical problems, Do you really NEED a fixed position navigation bar or do you WANT one?

Have a look at the above list and try to understand why they have chosen not to use your intended solution, sites like amazon, who make millions, and spend thousands of pounds per year on user reasearch and testing cant be wrong can they?

Ultimatly, feel free to design / develop your site the way you see fit, to which if you want a navigation solution that is always fixed you will need at least some funky css or a overly converluted js solution, and at worst a hybrid solution combining both with many browser issues thrown in for good measure.

Positioning Elements with CSS - Fixed - Absolute - Relative
Sticky sidebar or box
But amazon on the top of their page has the navigation box right there. No matter where you go on the page you can always access their options.
 
correct ? but thats my point the user still scrolls to find the navigation where as you dont want that from your original post??? or am i missing something? :)
 
Sunburn said:
correct ? but thats my point the user still scrolls to find the navigation where as you dont want that from your original post??? or am i missing something? :)
*laugh* I think I might have really really explained this badly.

What I'm trying to avoid is making too many html pages. so say I'm on home.html. I click 'portfolio' in a nav bar. The link takes me to portfolio.html.

But what if I wanted to be able to click portfolio in the nav bar but only the content area changes? So in affect, I never really leave home.html?
Like I said, this affect was usually achieved with frames. where you had the links in one page, then then opened a page in another frame.

If there is a more logical alternative I'd appreciate it, honestly - I really am learning as I go.

(Did I make sense? ;n; )
 
Mosskat said:
*laugh* I think I might have really really explained this badly.

What I'm trying to avoid is making too many html pages. so say I'm on home.html. I click 'portfolio' in a nav bar. The link takes me to portfolio.html.

But what if I wanted to be able to click portfolio in the nav bar but only the content area changes? So in affect, I never really leave home.html?
Like I said, this affect was usually achieved with frames. where you had the links in one page, then then opened a page in another frame.

If there is a more logical alternative I'd appreciate it, honestly - I really am learning as I go.

(Did I make sense? ;n; )
Argh I still am not making sense.... Okay I'd like to achieve the amazon.com effect with the navbar remaining on top, the content changes but you can scroll down that content, actually moving away from the navbar...

deviantART: where ART meets application!

Okay look at DA for an example
you've got the nav bar at the top - it opens each page accordingly
but then the content (the images) can be scrolled with a next button - you're not actually making multiple html pages.
 
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