Creating a Topic Menu

A Menu proxy lets you create a topic menu based on your TOC file, allowing users to navigate to other topics. This proxy can be especially useful if you are creating HTML5 Top Navigation or skinless output and you want a context-sensitive menu to display next to each topic. When you build the output, the proxy is replaced with the generated menu.

How to Create a Topic Menu

1. Place your cursor in a template page. You may need to press the down arrow on your keyboard and then press ENTER at the correct location. Then select Insert > Proxy > Insert Menu Proxy.

2. Complete the options in the dialog.

   • Use TOC, Browse Sequence, or Headings If you have more than one TOC file in your project, you can select the one that the Menu proxy should use. It is most common to base a menu on a TOC, but you can also select a browse sequence.

     

     You also have the option of selecting “Headings,” which will display topic headings in the side menu instead. In other words, any headings or subheadings (e.g., h1, h2, h3, h4) that you’ve included in a topic will be shown in the side menu instead of other topics in the output.

     

     Also, when viewing a topic that is set up like this—and the menu is fixed in place (via the Setup tab of the Skin Editor)—each sub-heading section will be highlighted as you scroll down in the topic.

     

   • Context sensitive Select this check box if you want the menu to show only closely related entries in the TOC. In Flare's Top Navigation project templates, this kind of proxy was inserted into a template page to create a side menu for most of the topics in the output.

     

     

     If you do not make the menu context-sensitive, it displays everything in the TOC (depending on the depth level you select).

   • Include parent If you have selected the Context sensitive option, you can also select this check box to include the parent TOC item in the menu.

     

     

   • Include siblings If you have selected the Context sensitive option, you can also select this check box to include TOC items in the menu that are on the same level as the open topic.

     

     

   • Include children If you have selected the Context sensitive option, you can also select this check box to include TOC items in the menu that are children of the topic that is open.

     

     

   • Levels to Show (Depth) This lets you choose how many levels of items deep in the TOC to include in the menu. If the Context sensitive option is disabled, this refers to the depth level overall for the TOC. If both the Context sensitive and the Include children options are enabled, it refers to the number of levels under the topic that is open.

   • Skin File If you have added a Menu skin component to your project and want to use it to control the look of the menu, you can select it from this field. See Editing Skin Settings and HTML5 Skin Styles.

     If you do not select a Menu skin component in this field, Flare uses the first one it finds in your project (if one exists). Otherwise, Flare provides a default design.

3. Click OK and save your work.
4. Associate the template page with a target.