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The Graphics Fast Pack offers a great way of making buttons. This is the traditional way (or at least, it’s my traditional way!).
- In the Styles Palette, create four colours, two for text and two for button fills. Give them sensible names - "butnormfill" etc.
- Make two gif text styles for the normal and hover button states using the appropriate colour (I usually set the gif paragraph to centre for these, but your layout may need left or right alignment). Give the styles sensible names "gifbutover", "gifbutnorm". Hint - use the paragraph settings to control the vertical position of the text, I set leading to 30% in the example and started the text with a return.
- On your Master Page or real page, draw your gif box for the button (in the Inspector Title it "homebut" or whatever - makes it much easier to find later). Make sure that Combine Graphics is unchecked in the Inspector - it is on by default. Apply the "gifbutover" fill colour, border or any other effects that you want and type in the button text. Select the text and apply the over text style.
- Item>Duplicate the button with no offset - it will be exactly on top of your first one and Freeway will call it "homebut1". Select the text and apply the "gifbutnorm" style, change the fill colour to "gifbutnorm". Click on the page to deselect.
- Click on the button, it will only select the top one, and apply the Rollover Action. In the Action Palette (use the column display tab) you will see your two buttons, set "homebut" as the mouseover and "homebut1" as the normal. You can ignore anything else that is in the list - combine graphics is off so anything behind the rollover will not get involved in the Action.
- Again click the button to select the top one ("homebut1") and apply your link.
- Here comes the sneaky bit. Go to the Site Palette and set it to Show Items. Drag over your button so that both parts are selected. (If you drag over other overlapping items just shift click to deselect them) You will see both parts of the rollover highlighted in the Site Palette - "homebut1", being behind, will be above "homebut".
- Now, to make another button all you need to do is Item>Duplicate that one while both bits are selected (if you are clever you can even calculate the required offset). To rename the parts of the new button (say to "linksbut), alt click the names in the Site Palette.
- It is easy to change the text in the top part of the button, but to change the "over" part you must bring it to the front. Drag it in the Site Palette so that it is below the normal one, change the text and drag it back again. If required, resize both by selecting them together and dragging a handle (you don't need to drag to select, just click and shift click them in the Site Palette). Click on the button and change the link. The rollover will work without you doing anything else.
- If you build all these on your master page you can just delete the top part of the appropriate rollover in the child pages thus removing the Rollover Action and the link and leaving it in the over state as navigation marker.
Once you start using the Site Palette to manipulate items you will wonder how you ever managed without it!
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