Using Images             

Instead of displaying clickable text on the HotStrip Pro menu, you can display clickable images. Create your images following the simple rules below, and then make the following changes in the applet's HTML code:

  1. Include the UseImages parameter, and set its value to yes.

  2. Add an Entry parameter for each image to be displayed, and set its value to the absolute or relative URL of the required image file.

  3. Choose whether to display highlighting and selection boxes around the images when the mouse moves over or click them, using the UseImageHighlighter and UseImageSelecter parameters.

All other aspects of the applet remain the same: you can still display or switch off Arrows, scrolling Lines and TypeMessages; it's still possible to select an initial HighlightedEntry; you can set the Spacing between the images; and each image can link to up to 4 URLs and Targets.

You can see images in action in Example #6.


Creating The Images

For each entry on the menu, you need one image file. This image file will contain 2 identically-sized images side by side. (For example, if you want to display a 32×32 pixel image, you'll have 2 of these side by side in a 64×32 image.) The left-hand image is the 'highlight' image - the one displayed when the mouse moves over that entry or clicks it; the right-hand image is the 'plain' image. You might choose to make the plain image on the right a grayscaled version of the left-hand image, for example, or a slightly smaller copy of it.

Using two images for each 'slot' on the menu provides some ever-popular mouse reactivity. If you don't want your image to change when focused or selected, just make the left-hand and right-hand images the same.

Every image you create must have the same dimensions. Therefore, if you reckon that 32×32 is a good size for an image, you must make every image you use 32×32 pixels. However, you can make all the images much larger or smaller than that if you want to, and they don't have to be square. If you create images in GIF format and set a transparent color, that color will be replaced by the applet's BgColor.