I just added instructions for creating an animated mini-tab menu to the Web Design Tips & Tricks site. Look for Mini-Tab Menu under Dynamic HTML (DHTML)>DHTML Scripts.

Users of Sothink DHTMLMenu will be pleased to learn that Sothink has released a tree menu program that has the same well-designed user interface as Sothink DHTMLMenu. The cost of the program is $29.95 US, and you can download a free trial here.

Version 2.3.1 of MM-Exporter was released on June 8, 2006. For those not familiar with MM-Exporter, it is a free backup utility that saves and restores important settings and data from Dreamweaver, Contribute, Fireworks, and Flash. You can learn more about MM-Exporter and download the program here.

I ran across Tigra Tree Menu, a free sliding tree menu. I have never used it, but it looks pretty good. I quickly browsed the web site and couldn’t find any catch to the free offer. I don’t think it’s anywhere near as good or as easy to use as Tree Menu Magic which I use on the Web Design Tips and Tricks site, but Tree Menu Magic costs $90.00 US and is a Dreamweaver extension.

By the end of the year Microsoft plans to release a suite of products to compete with Adobe/Macromedia Studio 8. Microsoft Expression includes Expression Web Designer, Expression Graphic Designer, and Expression Interactive Designer, a set of tools intended to lure designers away from Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash.

According to Wayne Smith, Microsoft Product Manager for Expression Web Designer, the only tool comparable to Expression Web Designer is Dreamweaver, but he said the big difference between the two products will be Web Designer’s support for ASP.Net 2.0.

Community Technology Preview 1 of Web Design is available for a free trial.

This is an important update for Dreamweaver 8, but before I give you the download URL, let me give you the good, the bad, and the ugly: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve read about the advantages of using PNG images instead of GIFs on Web pages but, until now, I’ve avoided using PNGs because Internet Explorer does not support transparent PNGs. Now there is a fix. I just added a page to the CSS Lab that explains how you can use transparent PNGs with IE5.5+.

f you try to get a web page that includes Flash to validate, you will find that the standard code most of us use won’t validate because it includes the tag which doesn’t exist in HTML or XHTML. If you use a work-around for the tag problem, you’re still faced with what Microsoft calls “ActiveX Control Activation” resulting from the Eolas patent dispute.

There is a solution, and you can read about it in the Flash section of the Web Design Tips & Tricks site.

Project Seven has released a free extension for FW MX2004 and 8. It applies a shadow and white edging to photo images. Download the extension here and install it with Extension Manager. Access the extension from Commands –> PVII –> PVII Picture Shadow.

Linda Rathgeber has created some some brushed metal styles. You can download them here.

Most of us who are struggling with CSS layouts know how effective the use of floats can be. I saw a post on a CSS newsgroup asking why you need to clear a float and where to put the clear.

I knew that it was important to clear a float, but I didn’t fully understand why. I thought the subject was worthy of an addition to the CSS Lab. There is a link on the CSS Tips & Tricks page titled, “4. Floats: Why And How To Clear Them”