[thelist] Pure css flyouts inside an overflow:hidden faux column

Barney Carroll barney at textmatters.com
Wed Dec 20 06:39:08 CST 2006


Christian Heilmann wrote:
> Don't rely on "CSS only solutions" as they cannot read out if the
> expanded menu will fit the screen or not. Use a JavaScript/CSS hybrid
> instead.

I'm glad the prejudice against javascript seems to be disappearing in 
the web design community at large - of course it used to be that any 
such functions would be done with js (and it would work!). The vocation 
for CSS designer has had its day, and we've all got to become 
fully-rounded DOM scripters now.

> CSS only is a plaything, and not fit for production yet. Don't believe the hype.
> 
> http://www.wait-till-i.com/index.php?p=327

That's a great article. Jeremy Keith's book DOM scripting 
[http://domscripting.com/]'s introduction pretty much states the same 
thing - the history of dynamic HTML has been dictated by huge design 
trends based on compromise and misunderstanding. I'm also really intent 
on getting ppk on JavaScript [http://www.quirksmoge.org/] to familiarise 
myself with a proper grip on manipulating the DOM since from everything 
I see of him, his philosophy on the relationship between CSS, HTML and 
ECMAscript is unshakably clear.

> Now, if a menu has too many options to fit the space it might be that
> you also have an IA issue on your hands and not a technical problem.

Tell me about it! The sketches fit the original concept and I managed to 
create pixel-perfect replicas of designs made in Illustrator... Only two 
weeks into the project it turns out the client needs 4 levels of 
navigation when we were set to cater for 2 etc. etc.

By all appearances I need to get the blackboard back out.

Regards,
Barney



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