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Mega Menu: Split Column4 posts
Mega Menu: Split Column
To make better use of mega menu real estate it would be nice if a mega menu category could be a split column vs. a single long column. For example on http://www.merelyafleshwound.com in the Mountain Biking section... the list of rides under Colorado is a single long column. It would be nice to be able to have two columns for the Colorado list with the Colorado heading spanning both columns.
Alex
https://www.merelyafleshwound.com
https://www.goldenbikeshop.com
https://www.merelyafleshwound.com
https://www.goldenbikeshop.com
Re: Mega Menu: Split Column
Thing is, this is related to your structure. How can X3 anticipate when to create a double-column from a single menu parent? Split it if its longer than 10 items? What if your other parents have 9, and this one is 11 ... ? Yes the two columns could "share" the same header, but I am not sure how I could make it "span" across both columns ... It is not like the header would be bigger or could be aligned differently.
There is one option that allows you to "limit" the amount of items showed under a single parent, and instead they would click "more" or click the parent header to see the page listing all items.
There is another option (currently undocumented), which allows you to set the stacking order of the elements. For example, you could have "colorado" in a single column, and then you could stack "Utah" below "Washington" and "Montana" below "Wyoming", which could give a better balance in 3 columns, although it would still not solve a very long list ...
Unfortunately, mega menu is a design element, that needs a certain balance in the child items to work nicely, and it cannot sort things out magically ... Personally, as mentioned in a post earlier, I am not convinced that your folder structure is optimized towards human visitors ... It seems more like a structure you would use for the personal organizing of gallery folders ...
There is one option that allows you to "limit" the amount of items showed under a single parent, and instead they would click "more" or click the parent header to see the page listing all items.
There is another option (currently undocumented), which allows you to set the stacking order of the elements. For example, you could have "colorado" in a single column, and then you could stack "Utah" below "Washington" and "Montana" below "Wyoming", which could give a better balance in 3 columns, although it would still not solve a very long list ...
Unfortunately, mega menu is a design element, that needs a certain balance in the child items to work nicely, and it cannot sort things out magically ... Personally, as mentioned in a post earlier, I am not convinced that your folder structure is optimized towards human visitors ... It seems more like a structure you would use for the personal organizing of gallery folders ...
Re: Mega Menu: Split Column
I don't think the Mega Menu would need to magically figure out when to split a column... however... might be cool to have the ability to tell it when to split with parameters... ie. split after 5 items under a heading.
I know you don't like my folder structure... and that is ok
People who visit my page are looking for information about activities and adventures that they might do themselves.... a mountain they might climb, a river they might run etc. So... like a guidebook... it is only logical to organize around an activity first... Mountaineering... and a geography within that. Mountaineering in Colorado's Elk Range. The peaks that are included in the site are/will be Colorado's tallest 100 peaks. If I organized any other way it would not be intuitive for the users of my site to find what they are looking for. I know that having such a volume of information is a challenge to present in a stylish way... but this is why I am here... on X3. I am grateful for your feedback... it has prompted me to think of creative ways to present my information in better ways. However... for most of my content... I see no way around organizing by activity type and geography. With respect to the shear volume... especially in the mountaineering section... completeness is critical.
Again... thanks for the feedback... suggestions are welcome... and keep up the good work. I am very happy with X3 and have received excellent feedback.
I know you don't like my folder structure... and that is ok
... but I all of a sudden feel like I should explain my thinking...Personally, as mentioned in a post earlier, I am not convinced that your folder structure is optimized towards human visitors ... It seems more like a structure you would use for the personal organizing of gallery folders ...
People who visit my page are looking for information about activities and adventures that they might do themselves.... a mountain they might climb, a river they might run etc. So... like a guidebook... it is only logical to organize around an activity first... Mountaineering... and a geography within that. Mountaineering in Colorado's Elk Range. The peaks that are included in the site are/will be Colorado's tallest 100 peaks. If I organized any other way it would not be intuitive for the users of my site to find what they are looking for. I know that having such a volume of information is a challenge to present in a stylish way... but this is why I am here... on X3. I am grateful for your feedback... it has prompted me to think of creative ways to present my information in better ways. However... for most of my content... I see no way around organizing by activity type and geography. With respect to the shear volume... especially in the mountaineering section... completeness is critical.
Again... thanks for the feedback... suggestions are welcome... and keep up the good work. I am very happy with X3 and have received excellent feedback.
Alex
https://www.merelyafleshwound.com
https://www.goldenbikeshop.com
https://www.merelyafleshwound.com
https://www.goldenbikeshop.com
Re: Mega Menu: Split Column
Sure! In the end, your current structure may be the best suitable compromise in your case anyway ... I'm just thinking aloud, without being able to offer any magic alternatives ... It is a challenge to make the menu nice and accessible, and I admit that the new mega menu had a certain impact on how I created the structure at mjau-mjau.com and even the for the default X3 release content.
Mega menu's all require a certain focus from the creator to strive towards a structure as suitable as possible for the mega menu. We do have additional mega menu extensions in store: 1) A similar list grid, but integrated into a "Carousel" option so that the menu can contain an even heavier structure. 2) A subfolders grid (similar to a gallery grid, directly in the menu).
Just to note an undocumented setting for the mega menu list. This is how we have done it at mjau-mjau.com, because we needed to custom stack subfolders, and in what columns they displayed for the best overall balance:
The | character separates columns (4 columns), and the numbers represent the index of the child subfolders. With the above, we set child0 and 1 in first column, child4 and 5 in second column, child6 in 3rd column (because it has many child items), and child2, 3 and 7 in column 4 (because they had very few child items).
Mega menu's all require a certain focus from the creator to strive towards a structure as suitable as possible for the mega menu. We do have additional mega menu extensions in store: 1) A similar list grid, but integrated into a "Carousel" option so that the menu can contain an even heavier structure. 2) A subfolders grid (similar to a gallery grid, directly in the menu).
Just to note an undocumented setting for the mega menu list. This is how we have done it at mjau-mjau.com, because we needed to custom stack subfolders, and in what columns they displayed for the best overall balance:
Code
menu: list:0,1|4,5|6|2,3,7