Help, My Site Is Too Cluttered!

Faced with the dilemma of web page real estate becoming an increasingly more valuable commodity and ever expanding site content, the savvy web designer is constantly seeking ways to reduce clutter without sacrificing ease of navigation to other areas of his site. This is often done by compacting large link lists into some sort of expandable menu, thereby optimizing load time, increasing readability of important page copy, and consequentially freeing up golden advertising space.

With the advent of DHTML, adding flashy, code-intensive, expandable navigational menus, like those on the Microsoft site, is one way to accomplish this. While this is an enticing concept and many source code examples are available around the web, integration into your existing page code is time consuming, confusing, and definitely NOT for the non-programmer. Another issue to consider before undertaking the monumental task of implementing this type of navigational system is "cross browser" support. Will the menus work in all browsers? If configured exactly right, the answer is yes, but care must be taken to ensure the menus will display properly across an ever growing array of available browser platforms. So, for the daring, technical-minded webmaster, DHTML menus are certainly an attractive and space-saving remedy for a cluttered site.

Another perhaps more viable and much simpler solution is the tried-and-true Javascript pulldown menu. Though considered by some to be "old school" or passé, the fact remains that this type of menu is guaranteed to be supported by all broswers and requires much less time and code to implement. Also, with advances in HTML and CSS technology, appearance of these menus can be spruced up in several different ways up by defining properties for such style elements as font face, font size, font color, background color, and much more.

"Okay fine," you say, "But Im still not a programmer and you might as well be suggesting that I build a rocket."

Enter "Javascript Menu Master" from Harmony Hollow Software. This handy utility provides a "gui" or graphical user interface, requiring absolutely no knowlege of any type of programming, with which to output functional, attractive, convenient, and space-saving Javascript-powered pulldown menus. Offering complete control over content, functionality and even appearance of menus in a smart, user friendly environment, this program is very easy to use and includes detailed online help for every feature. Theres even a concise tutorial which walks users step-by-step through the entire menu creation process.

Compared to other similar web design tools which can easily cost hundreds of dollars, Javascript Menu Master is worth a look at only $24.95. A free, feature limited trial version is available for download as well as a secure online order form with which to purchase the full version from the Harmony Hollow Software website at http://hhsoft.csoft.net.

Whatever method you choose to "clean house", a sharp, uncluttered, readable layout is integral in attracting attention to your copy thus increasing interest in your product or service. So, compact those huge link lists and give yourself and your visitors some breathing room.