Java Menu Over Flash In IE

SubScriptZero

SubScriptZero

Junior Member
Hi,
Basically I've got a super weird problem with a Java menu over a swf movie. In IE+Firefox (it doesn't happen in Chrome) the Java drop down menu loads really slowly and always leaves a "ghosted" bit that dropped down over the flash. I've tried using an iframe/various other flash parts to fix this but i am totally stumped and any ideas would be great...
(I would link to it but its not live yet)

Here a screen shot:
slowflash.jpg


In Chrome it loads smoothly with no lag and does not ghost

A quick reply would be greatly apperciated.

Sam
 
Hey Sub,

Its a pet hate of mine, but be careful of your use or terminology Java is not JavaScript.
http://www.dannyg.com/ref/javavsjavascript.html

Now I'm assuming, that as you have mentioned dropdown menu's and browsers I'm that your having issues with a JavaScript based dropdown menu, over the top of a flash movie. in a website / page rather than an application?

As you haven't posted a live link (you really should if you want help) I would suggest checking to see if an opacity value has been declared in the JS/CSS for the menu. If that dont help, the issue may be with the wmode on your flash movie, try changing the param to either 'opaque' or 'transparent.

I have had success with both.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Sorry, didn't realise that there a major difference between Java and JavaScript.

wmode is set to transparent and the z-index values are correct, its not the usual problem that the drop down from the menu loads behind the flash (i fixed that) its just that in IE+Firefox the drop down bits don't drop down smoothly and are very very slow and often don't work. Yet in chrome is acts as it should.

Sorry for the super slow server just quickly hosted it on a free server, however the problems in IE+FF persist no matter how fast the server is
 
Hey Sub,

The server performance is not relevant in this instance. however what is, is...

a 3+MB flash file and your JS dropdown is rendering your menu in nested tables!!!!!
I suspect the reason for the slow response time is that the browser is having to calculate the dimensions of the table on show/hide and refreshing the output, this is a major hog of the clients resources.

I would very strongly suggest you change the solution for your navigation.
This should help .... http://www.noupe.com/css/multilevel-drop-down-navigation-menus-examples-and-tutorials.html
 
OOOFFFFTTT - Nav worked ok for me in firefox but as you say VERY slowly - maybe the flash file taking up too much memory based on what Geoff said - not checked the file size myself.

You've also committed a design cardinal sin by stretching the imagery within it. (and the text).

Didn't get as far as inspecting with firebug to check your code out as the page hadn't loaded for firebug to work before my patience diminished.

Don't use flash for that slideshow - js can do as good if you know it very easily or use a plugin like so: JQuery Cycle Plugin

Other points all you text seems to be images (apart form the menu) - it's not warranted. use real text.
 
Cheers for the tip on the menu, I'm working with one of the ones in that link you suggested, as for the stretched pictures, they had already had that made before they got me on board...

And as for the images as text when doing it in html is there a quicker way to do it than to just use <br> and <p> to break up lines, because it takes me ages...

Rest of the site was designed by someone else, and I know moneys tight for the business at the moment I'm not going to push for a redesign...

This is my second website so far, so I still find myself making some silly mistakes...

Thanks for the help :)

Flash size is 3.6Mb, Might look into redoing it in Jquery, but they just pushed the deadline up and i doubt i'll have time to do that right now..
 
SubScriptZero said:
This is my second website so far, so I still find myself making some silly mistakes...
Click to expand...

Please don't take my comments with any offense - whilst they may sound slightly harsh - they are intended as constructive criticism to help - we all started somewhere.

Regarding images as text - if you put the paragraphs in containers (divs) width set widths the text will wrap inside these - you shouldn't need break tags. Are you familiar with divs / floats etc?

Also 3.6mb as a flash file is FAR too big FAR FAR too big. it doesn't look over complicated so I'd suggest you need to look at it's scale - i.e has it been created much larger than needed and scaled down. Also look at the image compression - this can be done within flash or before importing into flash (photoshop/fireworks)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top