Flash is widely used in contemporary design since it allows for considerable diversity in a menu's look and interactivity. Another key area of import is that flash looks and functions the same on all browsers since it uses embedded graphics. The downside is that a site visitor must have the flash plug-in to view it. We recommend flash design but recommend text/css navigation as well.
JavaScript and DHTML (dynamic html) are often used for rollover buttons, hierarchical horizontal drop-down menus, expanding vertical menus, and floating menus which follows one down a page. Each is commonly used on the web, and with the newer coding conventions there generally are few if any problems. That being said it is known that Netscape, Firefox, Opera, and IE will display Javascript differently at times, especially in the older browser versions. At present IE is the safest viewing browser.
Text links with or without CSS is the only guaranteed way to be cross-browser compatible since the scripting is html/xhtml. Text is also readily indexed by search engines, and it is ADA accessible. Image mapping is used to apply a linkable area to a portion of a graphic. This is often used for an area of navigation on a header design. And Form navigation is often used to send email to a specific person from a list, though with all navigation types itt has several uses.
|