Flash drop down nav bar

[joshuabaker]

Hello,

I am very new to building websites and i have learned to create a flash nav bar. But i can't seem to figure out how to get the drop down part to go over the whole website. Dose anyone have any idea on how to make a flash name bar go over the rest of my site?

[Tony]

Don't use flash for navigation.

Flash is great for rich media (such as streaming video).
Flash is decent for in-browser games.

Flash is a horrible choice for navigation. Not everybody has flash. Not everybody has flash enabled. It doesn't scale with the page. It's not read by screen readers. It's not crawlable (easily) by bots.

Drop down menus can be (and should be) implemented with CSS only

[rdrake]

I second the above; just say no to Flash navigation.

[Unforgiven]

Sorry for the "me too" post, but the sentiment can't be supported enough, for the reasons posted by Tony. I think flash is great for things like Youtube - it removes the client side dependencies for codecs and whatnot, but not for core things like navigation or content.

It's just like Javascript - it's a tool that can do wonderful things when used properly, but if the user doesn't have it, they should still be able to use the site, even if in a "reduced state". Make sure that if you go there with javascript, java, and flash all disabled, you can still find the information on the site.

[Tony]

"graceful degradation" is the term

[Unforgiven]

Tony @ Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:24 pm wrote:

"graceful degradation" is the term

Yarg, I knew that and didn't even toss it in there. Thanks.

[jernst]

Or, if you wanted to be a jerk about it, you could start with flash, then when they complain it doesnt work for everyone: add javascript then when they complain again, do it properly with the graceful degradation haha....that way you can make money 3 times

[Unforgiven]

jernst @ Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:41 pm wrote:

Or, if you wanted to be a jerk about it, you could start with flash, then when they complain it doesnt work for everyone: add javascript then when they complain again, do it properly with the graceful degradation haha....that way you can make money 3 times

Hah, I propose a new term for this: Profitable Degradation.

[Tony]

Except that people with no Flash will not be able to use the navigation to find that "contact us" page to complain

[md]

That and no one will hire you to to a job three times.

[Unforgiven]

Stop ruining our fun with reality.