Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

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  • navaldesign
    General & Forum Moderator

    • Oct 2005
    • 12080

    Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

    How to create and use a single Menu and use it in all your pages, WITHOUT using Iframes.

    Well, menubars have always been a “weak” point for all of us, BV users, and I believe for many other, non BV users. Imagine a 100 or 200 page site, perfectly functioning and on the air. Then, one day, you need to add or delete some button, or simply change a link. You need to change the menubar in ALL 200 pages, and then re-publish them all. Quite a work, ah ?

    In Menubar in I-frame I have displayed a method of using a single menu page, then recalling it in the rest of your pages, through an Iframe. Everything nice, but I have Beth(ers) that hates Iframes ! (LOL! This trick has come out after lot of research thanks to your insisting!).

    Ok, so what can we do? FrontPage allows for includes, that is recalling other pages in yours. But BV doesn’t. Doesn’t it ?

    No, indeed it doesn’t, at least not directly. But, with a little help from my friend, (PHP, I LOVE you!) I found the way of including ANY element in my pages. This method can be used for menubars, dropdown menus, CSS text menubars, headers, and everything else. And, it is all done within BV! No need for editors, Notepad, or anything else. Only one requirement: your pages need to be published as php. Please note that this quite alright with SE, if not even better. We are talking about static PHP pages, so no problem at all. Ok, let’s see how you can do it!

    Step 1. Create the menubar

    Open a blank page. Create your menubar as you would do normally. Take care to place it in the upper left corner of the page (later we will see how you actually place it in your pages).

    Important: do NOT use any metatags, page title, page description, author etc in this page. It could confuse Search Engines, as this code will be implemented to the code of each and every one of your pages.



    Step 2. Publish your page.

    Save the page as “menu” and publish it. You can publish your page as php OR as html. it is not really important. In this example I have used a HTML page.

    Ok, at this point, your menubar page is published on your site, and ready to be used in the rest of your pages. Let’s see how you do this:

    Step 3. Insert the menubar in your pages.

    Let’s suppose you have already a page. We will use a HTML box to place our menubar in the page. Since you already know what dimensions your menubar is, and where you want to place it, I suggest that you make this html box the same dimensions as the menubar. To help you out with this, you can copy / paste temporarily the menubar in your page, insert the html box, make it same size as the menubar, and then place it behind the menubar, exactly in the same position. Now, delete the menubar, and you will only have the html box, which is still empty.

    Visually, if you have followed the above instructions, this html box is occupying exactly the space where your menubar should be.



    Ok, double click the html box, and paste in it the following code:

    <?php
    include 'menu.html';
    ?>




    Step 4. Define and publish your page as PHP page

    Clicl on View, Page Properties, Page HTML. Set the page extension to be php when published. Save the page and publish it.

    Ok, you are done. I’ll just take a minute to explain what you have done: You have created a menu bar. You have then saved this page as "menu" and you have published it. Then, in the main page, you are calling this page, and you are displaying it (in this case only a menubar) as part of the page.

    You can see this page in www.navaldesign.info/Tips/phpmenu.php

    Please note that if you care about SE optimization, you can use a CSS text menu, that allows for text menu buttons. This way, your links will be immediately visible to the SE crawlers.

    Just make sure, when using menus that make use of external files, like themes or javascript or css, to upload the necessary files in the same folder. If you use ANY of BV’s menubars or dropdown menus, BV will automatically upload everything. If you use the same menubar in different folders, it would be wise to publish the menu page in all the folders.

    Please note that you can use this trick not only for menubars, but also for headers, footers, ads, practically ANYTHING that can be in some way inserted in a BV page (BV Rocks!). Just make sure, when using this trick for more than one elements (external pages) to save each page, with each own name, f.e. "myheader" , "footer" etc., and also in the html box, change the words "menu" with "myheader", "footer", etc.
    You can have as many external elements called in your page as you like.

    That’s all. Have fun and save yourself lots of work by using this trick.
    Navaldesign
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  • Bethers
    Major General & Forum Moderator

    • Feb 2006
    • 5224

    #2
    Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

    Naval, I love you!

    I don't have time right now with Christmas sales, etc to change anything now - but I will be looking at making quite a few changes when things slow back down.

    This is what I knew could be done, but didn't know how to do - I'm glad I was some influence on your figuring it out - cuz it will be MUCH better for se's!!

    Now, one question - which of the menu bars on the page is the one you inserted that way? Or did you put both in - just showing different possibilities?
    Beth
    A Child's Palace - Pinata Palace - Moxie Enterprises

    SEO and Marketing Tools
    SEO - The Basics

    Comment

    • navaldesign
      General & Forum Moderator

      • Oct 2005
      • 12080

      #3
      Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

      Excactly, both, just to show that it can be done LOL!
      Navaldesign
      Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
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      Comment

      • Bethers
        Major General & Forum Moderator

        • Feb 2006
        • 5224

        #4
        Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

        Naval,
        I'll use that on my next site, but can't afford to rename any pages from .html now on current sites - as se's are sending them traffic and I don't want to go backwards.

        Now, I know that it can also be done with css - which I could then use on existing sites with html - and some day I'll find someone who can tell me how that one works :)
        Beth
        A Child's Palace - Pinata Palace - Moxie Enterprises

        SEO and Marketing Tools
        SEO - The Basics

        Comment

        • Collectors-info
          General

          • Feb 2006
          • 8703

          #5
          Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

          Well done Naval. This will save loads of time.

          One small thing I am not sure on? You say the menu page will have to be placed in all folders. Will this mean manually updating the menu pages that are placed in other folders? Or can the code below be modified to go & get the menu page from, let’s say the public_html area & load it onto the new page?

          IE: the code below to go in a html box
          <?php
          include ("menu.php");
          menu();
          ?>


          Don’t laugh! Just my way to explain. IE:

          <?php
          include ("Go & find main menu in public_html/menu.php");
          menu();
          ?>


          Well done again this will go into a new site I am working on.
          Regards Chris.

          Collectables, Collecting, collectors-info.com

          www.chrismorris.co.uk

          House build project

          Comment

          • navaldesign
            General & Forum Moderator

            • Oct 2005
            • 12080

            #6
            Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

            Sorry, no, it can't be done because the menu also requires the relevant images and / or javascript and themes. So you need to publish the menu page in those folders.
            Navaldesign
            Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
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            Comment

            • Collectors-info
              General

              • Feb 2006
              • 8703

              #7
              Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

              Originally posted by navaldesign
              Sorry, no, it can't be done because the menu also requires the relevant images and / or javascript and themes. So you need to publish the menu page in those folders.
              Thanks Naval,
              this will also be a big bonus on some of the browsers that are not so keen on loading iframes.
              Regards Chris.

              Collectables, Collecting, collectors-info.com

              www.chrismorris.co.uk

              House build project

              Comment

              • navaldesign
                General & Forum Moderator

                • Oct 2005
                • 12080

                #8
                Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                Originally posted by Bethers
                Naval,
                I'll use that on my next site, but can't afford to rename any pages from .html now on current sites - as se's are sending them traffic and I don't want to go backwards.

                Now, I know that it can also be done with css - which I could then use on existing sites with html - and some day I'll find someone who can tell me how that one works :)
                Beth, from what i know, you can use CSS to STYLE your menubar. Indeed, the best menubar, is a text based one, like the ones you are using. Well, with CSS you can style your menu text, and make it appear as button. But, till now, i have NOT been able to find any way to recall a menubar in a page, if not with somekind of "include" method: Iframe, php or the FP includes. I will keep searching though if you are sure about this.
                Navaldesign
                Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
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                Comment

                • Bethers
                  Major General & Forum Moderator

                  • Feb 2006
                  • 5224

                  #9
                  Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                  Naval - I'm lost in css - but here's where I found the info that makes me believe I should be able to do it:





                  And - this one is where I wanted to dissect:


                  I appreciate it if you can figure this out for me (and the many others out here!)
                  Beth
                  A Child's Palace - Pinata Palace - Moxie Enterprises

                  SEO and Marketing Tools
                  SEO - The Basics

                  Comment

                  • navaldesign
                    General & Forum Moderator

                    • Oct 2005
                    • 12080

                    #10
                    Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                    Originally posted by Bethers
                    Naval - I'm lost in css - but here's where I found the info that makes me believe I should be able to do it:





                    And - this one is where I wanted to dissect:


                    I appreciate it if you can figure this out for me (and the many others out here!)
                    Hi Beth,

                    as i was afraid, that is not a way of including a single menu in your pages.

                    Explain: all the links you posted, are tutorials on how to create a menubar, using CSS. BUT, the menu has to be inside each and every page. Only the stylesheet document can be unique for all pages, so if you want to change the look of your menu, then you only need to edit this one css file.

                    But when it comes to editing the menu itself, in the meaning of adding, deleting, or changing links, etc, you still need to edit page per page. You will need to manually edit the menu in one page, eventually copy paste in the rest of the the pages, then republish ALL the pages.

                    The only way, as i posted above, i know of, to have a SINGLE menu, is to in someway, include this unique menubar, in your pages, calling it from whithin the page. And, as long as you don't have the includes (that FP allows for), the only way i could come up with, is the one i posted, making use of php.

                    Please note that, as i posted above, this include, can be practcally ANYTHING that can be included in a php/html page: menubars, headers, footers, ANYTHING. So, you can use this trick to implement a CSS menu as well.

                    Now, i do understand that a CSS menu, like the ones described in your posts, are the best, as long as SE are concerned. And, those tutorials, explain how to create them. However, there is a simpler way to accomplish the same result (creating a CSS menu), by making use of the CSS menu generators you can find in the web. Here is an easy one:
                    http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/css...enerator.shtml . It will allow you to create your CSS menu and then download the code, ready to place in your page.
                    Navaldesign
                    Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
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                    DBTechnosystems.com Forms, Databases, Shopping Carts, Instant Download Carts, Loggin Systems and more....
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                    Comment

                    • Bethers
                      Major General & Forum Moderator

                      • Feb 2006
                      • 5224

                      #11
                      Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                      Thanks, Naval. I'll see what I can do with the generator - and just keep having to change all my pages when I have changes.

                      And I'll try the php script above on my next site (in the works).
                      Beth
                      A Child's Palace - Pinata Palace - Moxie Enterprises

                      SEO and Marketing Tools
                      SEO - The Basics

                      Comment

                      • navaldesign
                        General & Forum Moderator

                        • Oct 2005
                        • 12080

                        #12
                        Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                        You're welcome. I am by no means an expert of CSS, so maybe FPRob can give us both an advise on this issue. Maybe we should post in the CSS forum.
                        Navaldesign
                        Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
                        Instant Download Cart: a Powerfull, Customized, in site, DB driven, e-products Cart
                        DBTechnosystems.com Forms, Databases, Shopping Carts, Instant Download Carts, Loggin Systems and more....
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                        Comment

                        • navaldesign
                          General & Forum Moderator

                          • Oct 2005
                          • 12080

                          #13
                          Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                          Beth! Download this CSS menu generator: i find it excellent! http://www.4yougratis.it/software_we..._generator.htm
                          Navaldesign
                          Logger Lite: Low Cost, Customizable, multifeatured Login script
                          Instant Download Cart: a Powerfull, Customized, in site, DB driven, e-products Cart
                          DBTechnosystems.com Forms, Databases, Shopping Carts, Instant Download Carts, Loggin Systems and more....
                          Advanced BlueVoda Form Processor : No coding form processor! Just install and use! Now with built in CAPTCHA!

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                          • Bethers
                            Major General & Forum Moderator

                            • Feb 2006
                            • 5224

                            #14
                            Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                            Downloaded - will look at it later,
                            THANK YOU.
                            Beth
                            A Child's Palace - Pinata Palace - Moxie Enterprises

                            SEO and Marketing Tools
                            SEO - The Basics

                            Comment

                            • Andy128
                              Major General

                              • Dec 2005
                              • 2317

                              #15
                              Re: Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

                              Naval- You are a life saver!!!!!! Thanks very much for your tutorial! I have a site (www.123gpp.com) that I currently have over 130 pages and it is expected to grow to over 300+. This method will be fantastic to create a site that can be eaisly managed. I very much wanted to be able to adapt the site content for Hoildays and celebrations and such but could not having to change so many pages. I can't wait to get started. I have been researching Beths hatred for I-Frames (which is well founded I have found out) as far SE's was concerned. This seems like a perfect solution.

                              Again- Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              Your Friend- Andy
                              PHP- is a blast!

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