Template design - black lines - extending shadow effect

[jimtomas]

Hi, I'm working (slowly) to redesign the original template to better suit my needs.



How could I go about recreating the right shadow effect of the left side? I have created the left shadow gif by flipping the right one, but I am unsure how to create the HTML code to facilitate this. After several unsuccessfull attempts I'm looking for any help on this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[sean]

I will be able to help you, I can't tell you much here for several reasons, I don't see the code, I don't know how good you are in coding, and can't see the exact problem.

One thing I could recommend to you tho is this, when you create a new page layout from the admin panel, always for "rendering", try to choose css div. I personally design heavy graphical sites due to the requests that I get, and this option of css div works beautifuly.

Like when I choose "table" for rendering, my whole page looks a bit messed up, but then when I switch to css div, it all gets fixed.

Also another thing you might want to do for the drop shadow, is to create a extra column on the part where the shadow should be, and have that shadow set as the background,

not sure if those will help, hope that they do tho.

[jimtomas]

I doubt it's so much a problem as it is my lack of understanding....

As I have reworked my template, I have found it more accomidating to use the "table" option for rendering. CSS div seems to mess everything up?

I'm unsure of how to place this extra column in the code without taking everything out of alignment.

For example code layout you could look at the main PHPwcms website since the feature I am working is the same there, although my layout is centered... http://www.phpwcms.de/index.php

Regards,
-Jim

[rescamilla]

There is not an easy explanation for this jimtomas.
Take a look at a site I am developing:
http://www.gohammond.com/index.php?personnel
(pay no attention to the content, it is all in the works)

Anyway, my template uses all tables and they are stacked like a skyscraper from the top down. For instance, looking at my site, the top dark blue bar with the flash animation is a 5 column, 1 row table set at 100% width. The next bar down is another 5 column, 1 row table set at 100% width, and so on, and so on.

I guess the answer you are looking for is that for the shadow effect, you need to have that image set as the background in it's own column. This way whenever the row grows taller, the shadow seamlessly repeats itself. (I have a feeling that you are already aware of this)

Wish I had more time to help you, but I am swamped.

-Ray

[jimtomas]

I'll play around with it a bit, thanks for your reply.

Based on the content of the site you are developing, I suspect you are a fellow Hoosier?

-Jim

[rescamilla]

Yes sir. I live in Hammond and have a contract with that city to redevelopment their website.
Hammond is at the very northwest corner of the state and shares a border with Chicago, IL.
-Ray

[jimtomas]

I think I've got it, just now I'm not sure where to add a column to the far left of my left navigation.

In my template under left I have this code...

<!-- begin left //-->

<img src="images/template/low_left.gif" width="200" height="85" border="0">{NAV_TABLE_COLUMN}<img src="images/template/leer.gif" width="1" height="100">

<!-- end left //-->

I need to find where the <td> and <tr> tags are comming from to render the above code. Then I will be able to insert my shadowed background to this...

<td valign="top" width="15" background="images/template/bg_left_shadow.gif"></td>

Thanks!

and a big shout out from Indianapolis

-Jim

P.S. rescamilla- You are probably already aware of this since you are still developing your site, but the template you have causes some strange behaviours within Firefox. 50% of the time the page doesn't show up all the way, with half the page lost but you aren't able to scroll to the top. I'll post a screen shot if you're unfamiliar with this issue.

[DeXXus]

Not sure which specific "insert" position you are referring to... but I ~believe~ they originate in this stretch of code in "front.func.inc.php":

Code: Select all

//spacer row
			if($nav_table_struct["row_space"]) {
				$space_row  = "<tr".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "row_space", 0).">\n".$space_cell;
				$space_row .= "<td".$colspan.">".spacer(1, $nav_table_struct["row_space"])."</td>";
				$space_row .= $space_right."\n</tr>\n";
				$temp_menu .= $space_row;
			}
			
			if($temp_tree[$key]) {
				if($act_cat_id == $key) {
					$temp_menu .= "<tr".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "row_active", 0).$js_act.">\n".$left_cell;
					$temp_menu .= "<td valign=\"top\"><img src=\"".$nav_table_struct["linkimage_active"]."\" border=\"0\"".$link_name_id." alt=\"\" /></td>\n";
					$temp_menu .= "<td".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "cell_active", 1).$colspan.">".$cell_top;				
					$temp_menu .= '<a href="'.$link.'"'.$redirect['target'].'>'.html_specialchars($struct[$key]["acat_name"]).'</a>';
				} else {
					$temp_menu .= "<tr".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "row_norm", 0).$js.">\n".$left_cell;
					$temp_menu .= "<td valign=\"top\"><img src=\"".$nav_table_struct["linkimage_norm"]."\" border=\"0\"".$link_name_id." alt=\"\" /></td>\n";
					$temp_menu .= "<td".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "cell", 1).$colspan.">".$cell_top;				
					$temp_menu .= '<a href="'.$link.'"'.$redirect['target'].'>'.html_specialchars($struct[$key]["acat_name"])."</a>";
				}
				
				$temp_menu .= $cell_bottom."</td>\n".$right_cell."</tr>\n";
				$temp_menu .= build_levels ($struct, $key, $temp_tree, $act_cat_id, $nav_table_struct, $count, $div, $link_to);
			} else {
				$temp_menu .= "<tr".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "row_norm", 0).$js.">\n".$left_cell;
				$temp_menu .= "<td valign=\"top\"><img src=\"".$nav_table_struct["linkimage_norm"]."\" border=\"0\"".$link_name_id." alt=\"\" /></td>\n";
				$temp_menu .= "<td".table_attributes($nav_table_struct, "cell", 1).$colspan.">".$cell_top;
				$temp_menu .= '<a href="'.$link.'"'.$redirect['target'].'>'.html_specialchars($struct[$key]["acat_name"])."</a>";
				$temp_menu .= $cell_bottom."</td>\n".$right_cell."</tr>\n";
			}
		}
	}
	
	if($nav_table_struct["row_space"] && $count == 1) $temp_menu .= $space_row;
	
	return $temp_menu;
}