Adobe 38039927 User Guide - Page 225

Creating Buttons and Pop-up, Menus

Page 225 highlights

220 Chapter 12: Creating Buttons and Pop-up Menus In Fireworks you can create a variety of JavaScript buttons and Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) or JavaScript pop-up menus, even if you know nothing about JavaScript and CSS code. The Fireworks Button Editor leads you through the button-creation process, automating many button-making tasks. The result is a convenient button symbol. After you've created a button symbol, you can easily create instances of the symbol to make a navigation bar, or nav bar. Fireworks also has a Pop-up Menu Editor, which allows you to quickly and easily create vertical or horizontal popup menus. The Advanced tab of the Pop-up Menu Editor gives you creative control over cell spacing and padding, text indention, cell borders, and other properties. When you export a button or pop-up menu, Fireworks automatically generates the CSS code or JavaScript necessary to display it in a web browser. In Adobe Dreamweaver, you can easily insert CSS code, JavaScript, and HTML code from Fireworks into your web pages, or you can cut and paste the code into any HTML or CSS file. This chapter contains the following topics: • "Creating button symbols" on page 220 • "Creating navigation bars" on page 228 • "Creating pop-up menus" on page 229 Creating button symbols Buttons are navigation elements for a web page. Buttons created in the Button Editor have the following characteristics: • You can make almost any graphic or text object into a button. • You can create a button from scratch, convert an existing object into a button, or import already created buttons. • A button is a special type of symbol. You can drag instances of it from the symbol library into your document. This allows you to change the graphical appearance of a single button and automatically update the appearance of all button instances in a nav bar. For more information on symbols, see "Using symbols" on page 186. • You can edit the text, URL, and target for one button instance without affecting other instances of the same button, and without breaking the symbol-instance relationship. • A button instance is encapsulated. When you drag the button instance in the document, Fireworks moves all the components and states associated with it, so there is no need for multiframe editing. • A button is easy to edit. Double-click the instance on the canvas, and you can change it in the Button Editor or the Property inspector. • Like other symbols, buttons have a registration point. The registration point is a center point that helps you align text and the different button states while in the Button Editor.

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220
Chapter 12: Creating Buttons and Pop-up
Menus
In Fireworks you can create a variety of JavaScript buttons and Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) or JavaScript pop-up
menus, even if you know nothing about JavaScript and CSS code.
The Fireworks Button Editor leads you through the button-creation process, automating many button-making tasks.
The result is a convenient button symbol. After you’ve created a button symbol, you can easily create instances of the
symbol to make a navigation bar, or nav bar.
Fireworks also has a Pop-up Menu Editor, which allows you to quickly and easily create vertical or horizontal pop-
up menus. The Advanced tab of the Pop-up Menu Editor gives you creative control over cell spacing and padding,
text indention, cell borders, and other properties.
When you export a button or pop-up menu, Fireworks automatically generates the CSS code or JavaScript necessary
to display it in a web browser. In Adobe Dreamweaver, you can easily insert CSS code, JavaScript, and HTML code
from Fireworks into your web pages, or you can cut and paste the code into any HTML or CSS file.
This chapter contains the following topics:
“Creating button symbols” on page 220
“Creating navigation bars” on page 228
“Creating pop-up menus” on page 229
Creating button symbols
Buttons are navigation elements for a web page. Buttons created in the Button Editor have the following character-
istics:
You can make almost any graphic or text object into a button.
You can create a button from scratch, convert an existing object into a button, or import already created buttons.
A button is a special type of symbol. You can drag instances of it from the symbol library into your document.
This allows you to change the graphical appearance of a single button and automatically update the appearance of all
button instances in a nav bar. For more information on symbols, see “Using symbols” on page 186.
You can edit the text, URL, and target for one button instance without affecting other instances of the same button,
and without breaking the symbol-instance relationship.
A button instance is encapsulated. When you drag the button instance in the document, Fireworks moves all the
components and states associated with it, so there is no need for multiframe editing.
A button is easy to edit. Double-click the instance on the canvas, and you can change it in the Button Editor or the
Property inspector.
Like other symbols, buttons have a registration point. The registration point is a center point that helps you align
text and the different button states while in the Button Editor.