Alan's Tree Menu 2.40
- Features and Limitations
Quality and performance.
You can judge the quality by looking at the following features: (i) "double
buffering" ensures that the applet does not flicker when you activate any function; (ii) watch the speed
and smoothness of the scrolling function, and notice how each scrollbar only appears
when needed; (iii) the progress bar (on start up)
ensures that the visitor to a website knows where to look and has more patience
if your menu takes more than a second or two to load; (iv) notice the speed at which the applet responds
to click commands (e.g. changing text size or opening and closing folders) and notice the speed at which
the highlight races over the links as you move the mouse. Most other tree applets cannot
match the programming care here.
Power and informativeness.
You enter your own menu into an easy text file (no fiddling with HTML parameter
tags). The entries give you the power to load the link into any frame, load any URL
(not merely local files), create new windows or access pages at given anchors.
You control (via parameter) which folders are open on start up, giving your site visitor an immediate
overview of either a selection or the entirety of your site. Every entry (folders and links) can have an associated status
window report at the bottom of the browser screen.
Compactness and clarity.
"Compactness" and "clarity" are two of a web designers prime considerations when choosing a navigation system.
A navigation system needs to be packed into as small a space as possible to leave room for content, and yet
it must be absolutely clear to the site visitor what pages are available and how they can be accessed. We have
programmed the applet to occupy - if desired - an absolute minimum of space. If small or minimum sizes
are used, a combination of small text, highlighting and scrolling ensures that the site visitor still has a clear
view of what is going on. But you, as web designer, have the decision whether to enhance the clarity further
by using a less compact format and choosing a larger applet with larger text (which can even be changed
later by the site visitor if their monitor requires it). If you have an eye for subtleties,
compare the space usage of the Windows Explorer tree to that of our applet, and you will notice how we have
endeavoured to maximize both compactness and clarity for you.
Ease of configuration.
An important consideration when writing the applet was that
a web designer could insert the applet into the HTML with a minimum of fuss,
if desired. So, for example, NO fiddling with parameters is necessary. The
default configuration already offers an optimal and interesting appearance. In addition we assumed that web
designers would make mistakes when writing the text file, and to ensure that this process really was as easy
as we wanted, we have built in error reporting for difficulties in this area and ensured that the applet is "tolerant"
to unexpected or incorrectly configured tree entries.
Colour schemes and size.
Another prime consideration was the the web designer should be able to match the applet
as far as possible to the design of the HTML files. For this reason the applet can be easily and extensively resized,
observing certain minima. The applet can occupy a small corner, a side, the top, or even the whole of the screen,
depending how you choose. As regards colour schemes, your choice is virtually unlimited. While seven default
schemes are delivered and parameter driven (together with an option for random choice of a colour scheme),
seven different colour areas of the applet (4 for the controls and frame, 3 for the tree itself) can also be individually
and limitlessly configured by the web designer
Keycodes and limitations
This applet is free to non-commercial customers, and is one of the first navigation
systems we ever programmed. It therefore has a few limitations. Some of these
limitations are removed in the cheap keycode version (which is also available
to commercial customers), but if you want a very
powerful navigation applet, you should look at our more
advanced products.
Alan's Tree Menu 2.40 (freeware version)
has the following limitations:
maximum of 49 entries only
no extended characters (e.g. no accented letters)
statement of copyright and link back to our own company
Alan's Tree Menu 2.40 (keycode version)
has the following extra functions:
the visible information about our company can be removed
you can set the titles on the applet
you can enter your own information for the "info" panel
otherwise it's the same as the freeware version (limitations on
the number of entries and extended characters still apply)
Each keycode represents a single-site licence for the applet
and is valid for that site only. You just plug the keycode into
your existing applet and the extra functions appear! You can
order a keycode online with your credit card - you can find out
about prices and ordering here.