Populus Menu Options

Populus features the exciting and exclusive RokMooMenu system for the ultimate in menu functionality and style, as well as the popular and reliable RTSplitMenu. An option for Suckerfish is also included. Here you can read an overview of the Populus menu configuration options.

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Selecting your Menu Style

Populus allows you to choose from 3 menu options:

  • RokMooMenu - The exciting new menu system based on the ever popular Suckerfish menu style, featuring mootools powered transitions and effects.
  • Suckerfish - The versatile dropdown menu is now an option in combination with RokMooMenu to minimise library conflicts.
  • SplitMenu - Then venerable SplitMenu is a solid choice for navigation. It works by rendering the top-level menu options horizontally, and the submenu/child items are rendered in a module on the side.

You can designate which menu style you want to use on your site with a single control in the template's index.php file which is editable via the Joomla Administrator as well as in an external text editor.

$menu_type = "moomenu";	// moomenu | suckerfish | splitmenu | module

The Powerful & Popular RokMooMenu

Making its return this month is the immensely popular RokMooMenu. This menu has been developed from scratch using the latest and greatest MooTools JavaScript framework. The RokMooMenu is a highly advanced and fully customizable menu system. Some of the great features include:
  • Hover support for IE6 using the sfHover javascript class just like in Suckerfish.
  • Fully degradable to standard SuckerFish menu if javascript is not supported.
  • Configurable mouse-out delay to allow for accidental mousing out of the menu.
  • Completely customizable animation effects using MooTools transitions. Can be configured in X and/or Y directions.
  • Support for fade-in transparency
  • Experimental support for IE6 z-index bug using the iFrame hack.
An example configuration as used in the demo: 
<script type="text/javascript">
window.addEvent('domready', function() {
new Rokmoomenu($E('ul.nav'), {
bgiframe: false,
delay: 500,
animate: {
props: ['opacity', 'width', 'height'],
opts: {
duration:400,
fps: 100,
transition: Fx.Transitions.Expo.easeOut
}
}
});
});
</script>

Menu Settings

  • Bgiframe - Can be true or false. Only turn on if you are having problems with IE and z-index. This feature is experimental.
  • Delay - Defaults to 500ms. This is the how long you can mouse off the menu before it vanishes.
  • Props - These are the properties that will be applied to the menu. Can be any combination of opacity, width, height. The two properties, width and height are affected by the transition defined in opts.
  • Duration - the time in ms the animation will run for.
  • Fps - speed of the animation - leave at 100 for best results.
  • Transitions - any of the available MooTools transitions. See below for more details.
    For example, "Bounce.easeIn or Bounce.easeOut or Bounce.easeInOut" produce a bouncing effect.
For more details with diagrams, visit the Mootools documentation site

Creating dropdown menus for RokMooMenu and Suckerfish

To have specific menu items appear as sub items, you must assign them to the specific navigation item in which they will originate from. The following tutorial will show you how simple it is to create your ideal menu system.

Step 1 - Navigation

Once you have logged into the Joomla! Administration Area, you must navigate to the Menu area. Hover over the Menu item in the taskbar to show the dropdown menu. For this example, we are going into the mainmenu but the technique is exactly the same for all menus in the Administrative area.

Step 2 - The Menu Manager

You will then be transported to the Menu Manager for mainmenu. At this point, you can do 2 things. The first is to edit an existing menu item, which we will be doing in this tutorial or create a New menu item to be subordinate to an existing item. Click on the item you want to be part of the dropdown menu.

Step 3 - Assigning a Parent Item

You can now assign the content item to the mainmenu item in which you want to be in the dropdown menu. Identify the "Parent Item" section of the manager. You will select the item in which you wish to be the parent and the source of the dropdown menu. In this example, we have selected "Home".

 

Group 1 Stuff

Introducing Populus

The exciting new Populus template features a module driven design with loads of module positions, making it one of the most flexible templates we have ever offered. Harness the power and flexibility of Populus to create the ultimate community portal site.

Populus also features our popular integrated tabbed module system, providing you with a powerful way to display your content. Also making its return is the stylish RokSlideShow module, as well as many more features you've come to expect from RocketTheme templates including: RokMooMenu, an incredible 22 module positions with subtle module variations, RokZoom integration, and so much more...

Group 2 Panel

22 Module Positions

Populus features an incredible 22 fully collapsible module positions providing you with the ultimate in flexibility. Populus includes built in style and implementation for the extra module positions "user10 - user 17". These module positions are not defined in a default Joomla install and must be added.

You can add these additional module positions by going to "Site > Template Manager > Module Positions" in your Joomla administrator. Add each of the additional module positions by entering the name in the "module position" field. Then click Save. Now your extra module positions will be ready for you to place module content into, Populus will take care of the rest.

Group 3 Collection

Mootools Integration

Populus utilises the javascript library known as mootools to power special effects such as the RokMooMenu, RokSlide integration, and RokZoom features. Populus uses the latest development build of the mootools javascript library, but is also now compatible with the earlier 1.11 version of mootools as well for better integration and backwards compatibility.

Populus' built in mootools javascript and functionality can also be disabled, should you need to use third party extensions which utilise other javascript libraries. Visit the RocketTheme Populus forum for more information. You can find out more information about Mootools on their website, located at http://mootools.net.

Group 4 Assortment

Fireboard Theme

ContentThe all new Populus template includes custom styling for better integration of the popular Fireboard Joomla forum solution. Using the custom Populus Fireboard theme, you can deploy a great looking forum that will match perfectly with any of the preset Populus color styles! See it!...