Thread: Sub-Navigation Showing on Page

What I am trying to create is a dynamic menu that can be used to show a sub menu below all of which lets you know where you are at. This is the test I have so far: http://aaronmarsdenmusic.com/testarea123/temp.php

Is this a good way to do this or is there a better way?

Thanks a lot,
Aaron Marsden
aaronmarsdenmusic.com

The example page URL is not valid.

If you use a Drop-Down or Sliding Menu, you can dynamically display the heirarchy of pages and sub-pages, but to have them statically display on a page once navigated to is impossible: you will need to implement a supplementary device, and typically these are called "breadcrumbs."

Do a Forum Search or a Google Search on "breadcrumbs" or "breadcrumb navigation" to find a number of solutions.

Personally, I make my own manually, in the style I prefer and formatted in the way I demand without having to deal with limited ways to customize scripts and other "tools" that in my mind are simply rudimentary and which never "fit" or compliment my distinctive page designs or layouts.
*An added bonus is that all the Search Engines favor my method of creating text-link based breadcrumb navigation, and add noticably greater values to my overall SEO/SERP ranking rather than what might be possible had I used a script or other generated tool!

For instance, across the top of the page above the Content I might create a series of simple text links to look something like this (which indicates you are on Page 3 within Section 2 --- and in my mind, the Sections would be featuerd in the Main Navigational Menu system):

Section 2 Title:..Intro….Page 1….Page2….Page 3….Page 4….Page 5....Summary


Additionally, if a "Section" has a lot of pages, you may wish to format it to show only the page number and not a Title, to save on room:

Section 2 Title:…Intro…1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…12…13…14…15…Summary


*Remember, the "indicated" page shown black (the page actually being viewed) is not linked, just simple text, and in the second example, an underline was added to make a clearer emphasis just to demonstrate the many ways to format however desired!

You can customize a normal mouseover/rollover hyperlink STYLE to add the "interaction" Visitors appreciate, as each "breadcrumb" is individually linked to the corresponding page. In this example, I might set the style to show the link as BLACK color on rollover, with or without an underline (depends on how visible or how familiar the average Visitor is with links styles and how pronounced the action needs to be).

Whatever. You can choose a method that works best for you.