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Frequently Asked Question #10

Question: HierMenus always waits until the HTML page is fully loaded before it creates menus. Is there any way I can force HierMenus to create the menus and make them available while the page is still loading? Also, there is a long pause just after the page loads, while HierMenus creates all the menus defined on the page. Is there any way to avoid this?

Answer: To answer the first question, no, there is not.

We have tried, at times in the past, to change the HierMenus menu creation logic such that menus could be generated while the HTML page loads. Unfortunately, with each attempt we've found that the menus were no longer created consistently enough for our needs; sometimes being displayed incorrectly, and other times adversely effecting other non-HierMenus elements on the page. Therefore, for stability and consistency reasons, HierMenus always waits until the HTML page is fully loaded before attempting to create menus. Until that time, permanently displayed menus will not appear, and menus tied to in-page links via onmouseover / onmouseout attributes will not appear, either.

As to the second question, you can set the CreateOnLoad parameter globally, or on a menu by menu basis, to control which menus are created immediately after the page finishes loading. By default, CreateOnLoad is true; all menus are immediately created just after the page finishes loading. Menus that have CreateOnLoad set to false will not be created until they are first called for. This will make the first appearance of the menu a little more sluggish than it would normally be (since the menu must be created on the fly when it is needed) but most users prefer the quicker loading page to the slightly sluggish first appearance of the menu. And, in fact, unless your menus are very large (12 menu items or more, for example) you may not even notice the delay in the first menu appearance (depending on your computer's speed, of course).