Website menus are navigational tools that your visitors use to get around your website. Your menu may include links to your blog, email address, products for sale or any number of things. Menu builders, sometimes referred to as menu generators, take all the work and hassle out of hand coding a complicated menu for your website by automating the process for you. That means you no longer have to be a skilled programmer to build your own high quality website menus, you only need access to the right tools.
Types of menu builders
There are two basic types of menu builders available for use today:
Downloadable software: This is software you download, install and use on your own computer.
Web based software: This is software that lives in the cloud and can be used from any computer that has access to the Internet.
Both types of software will produce quality, original looking menus that you can then copy and paste into your existing web pages.
Languages used to build website menus
Just as your website may be coded in HTML and CSS or PHP and HTML, or even a combination of all of those languages, so too can menu builders generate code in many different languages. Some of today’s most widely used menu builders use the following languages:
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Flash: Flash is a product of Adobe and it’s a multimedia platform that can add animation and interactivity to your website menus.
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JavaScript: JavaScript is a dynamic scripting language that is one of the most popular online because it works universally across all web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari. JavaScript also adds interactivity to web pages and can easily be inserted into preexisting HTML code.
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DHTML: Dynamic HTML, also known as DHTML, creates interactive, animated web pages and website menus by using combinations of markup languages that blend well with HTML.
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CSS: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a versatile style sheet language that can create stunning navigational menus. CSS is also easy to add to existing web page code.
What menu builders can do
Menu builders take all the work out of building a navigational menu and leave you to decide only the basics.
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What color should your menu be?
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Do you want buttons and if so, how big?
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Will your navigation be diagonal or horizontal?
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Will your menu have movement or remain static?
Most menu building software tools come with hundreds of predesigned templates for you to choose from or you can create your own unique look from scratch. Website menu builders allow anyone of any skill level to create a dynamic, dazzling navigational menus in minutes.