20th June 2009 - site wide navigation upgrade

[Jools]

You'll notice some changes at the top of all our pages. I am working on

a) Replacing the dropdown menus to the right with more modern,faster and lighter drop downs (that loads in sequence rather than at the end of the page which will also mean the thing looks a bit better as when viewing a page that takes some time to load). Hopefully it will look better too.
b) Adding in an species fast find seach box. This uses AJAX technology as per common name feature in the catelog.
c) Adding in breadcrumb links for all pages

No doubt it will look funky from time to time, I will post here when I am finished. Feel free to comment, discuss etc in this topic.

Cheers,

Jools

[Marc van Arc]

This uses AJAX technology

How could you do that to a genuine PSV fan

[Borbi]

Hi Marc,

actually, in Germany, Ajax is a brand that makes cleaning stuff, like for toilets...

Hope that helps,

Sandor

[Jools]

Yes, very good. AJAX used to clean the toilet - well it's a lot simpler than Asynchronous Javascript And XML! I am getting there with it - reckon about half way...

Jools

[Jools]

What do you think so far? Any problems?

Jools

[Borbi]

Hi Jools,

..looks good!
Would have to report a "partly not working" with my IE6. A little bit strange: the drop-down thingys CotM and Cat-eLog work.
Starting with Shane´s World to the right it looks like this:


Does work with my Firefox in WinXP as well as Linux. Could it be the "Microsoft-Bug"..?

Cheers, Sandor

[Jools]

Hi Sandor,

The menu is more "old browser" compatible than the old menus. I should work with IE4 upwards. I reckon it's probably a cache thing - can you try forcing a refresh? Anyone else on IE6?

Jools

[Borbi]

Hi Jools,

I just cleared the cache to see if that helps, but that strange thing persists.
It does work on my second computer though (Vista, IE7), so it´s perhaps just me and this old machine.

Cheers, Sandor

[krazyGeoff]

Hi Jools,
No problems with the drop down menus on Vista and IE8.

Thanks
Geoff

[MatsP]

I just tried in IE6 and as far as I can tell, it works just fine visually, but when I click "Post Reply" it doesn't do anything. Since I don't usually use IE for browsing, that may be caused by some enthusiastic Nokia employee trying to make my laptop safe, rather than a site-issue.

The other problem I'd like to report is that in FireFox the "Board Index" link isn't working right.

--
Mats

[Jools]

The other problem I'd like to report is that in FireFox the "Board Index" link isn't working right.

Fixed now, it was "under" the transparent edge of the three cats graphic.

Jools

[MatsP]

Yes, I just tested it and it works fine (I should have said that it was under the three catfishes, but you figured it out...)

--
Mats

[MatsP]

The "three cats" also cover the Cat-eLog species data-sheet pages, so that it's hard to click the family link (at least in short family names, I don't think Auchtenipteriidae is as difficult as Akysiidae, for example).

--
Mats

[MatsP]

I just tried in IE6 and as far as I can tell, it works just fine visually, but when I click "Post Reply" it doesn't do anything. Since I don't usually use IE for browsing, that may be caused by some enthusiastic Nokia employee trying to make my laptop safe, rather than a site-issue.

And yes, it's my settings in IE that caused the "Post Reply" to not work. Something to do with Proxy settings. Better set them back now, so I don't have to wonder why it doesn't work, when I have to do those "Works in IE only" pages at work...

--
Mats

[Jools]

Mats,

Just as an aside, you might want to have a look at the "IE tab" add-on for firefox, it runs MSIE within firefox tab for those pesky "works in MSIE only" pages.

Jools

[racoll]

Nice job.

Looks good

[Martin S]

Nice job.

Looks good

Yep, ditto for me too.

[Jools]

Good, I'm debating the use of beadcrumbs, as they are more or less there at the moment, but will mull it over. The AJAX stuff will appear when I have a few hours of time to work on it, but pleased with the results so far. As an aside, it now means that 100% of the page is search engine readable, previously the old menus were a closed book.

Jools

[alga]

Nice job! Are we no longer affiliated with or direct linking with zebrapleco.com?

[Martin S]

Good, I'm debating the use of beadcrumbs, as they are more or less there at the moment, but will mull it over. The AJAX stuff will appear when I have a few hours of time to work on it, but pleased with the results so far. As an aside, it now means that 100% of the page is search engine readable, previously the old menus were a closed book.

Jools

As always Jools, if I can help in anyway (and it's not wanted 'tomorrow'), please let me know.
Martin

[Jools]

As always Jools, if I can help in anyway (and it's not wanted 'tomorrow'), please let me know.

Thanks Martin, it's appreciated. I just have to find the time to set things up to do - it's hard work to create a test environment but something I really should do.

Jools

[Jools]

OK, the rather rough version of the quick find is online (and not on any forum pages yet), Try typing stuff like "white" or "brachy" into it. A LOT of refining is planned.

Jools

[Jools]

Nice job! Are we no longer affiliated with or direct linking with zebrapleco.com?

Yes, Rob is a good friend (in fact I'm staying over at his for a pig roast party this weekend. I am sure affiliation will be discussed!

Jools

[Jools]

Hey Mats,

Do you have some time soon to look at the file I sent? No great rush, just wanted to check progress now that I'm back home.

Cheers,

Jools