Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual

The Actions, One by One

While events get the ball rolling, actions are, yes, where the action is. Whether it’s opening a 200 x 200 pixel browser window or using HTML to control the playback of a Flash movie, you’ll find an action for almost every interactivity need.

Each of the following descriptions lets you know which browsers recognize the corresponding actions. For example, “Netscape Navigator 3+” refers to Netscape Navigator 3.0 and later.

Remember that after you complete each of the sets of steps below, your new action appears in the Behaviors panel, and your Web page is ready to test. At that point, you can click the behavior’s name in the Behaviors panel, where—by clicking the Events pop-up menu as shown in Figure 11-2—you can change the event that triggers it.

Navigation Actions

Many of Dreamweaver’s actions are useful for adding creative navigational choices to your Web sites, giving you the opportunity to go beyond the simple click-and-load approach of a basic Web page.

Show and Hide Pop-up Menu

Windows: Netscape Navigator 4+, Internet Explorer 4+

Macintosh: Netscape Navigator 4+, Internet Explorer 4+

As the appetites of Web surfers grow, Web sites are getting bigger and more complex, sometimes making it harder to navigate the site. Instead of a handful of links, cleanly placed on the home page, you may have hundreds of links that could easily overwhelm your visitors. To maintain order, use Dreamweaver MX’s new Pop-Up Menu behavior to add navigation menus that only appear ...