Navigation design, please help...

[cr34tiv3 5tu]

Ive tried getting some help on this in the Flash MX forum with no luck... You guys seem to have the ability to sove most problems so I thought I would try again here...

As some of you guys may already know, my flash skills aren't exactly top notch and its come to the stage where Im having to ask for help again...

The images below show the concept for my websites navigation. The idea being that when you select say identity, they will all scroll up leaving identity in the centre with a blue tint.
Ive got that going and the tweens work fine when your going up or down the list in order but it skips when clicked out of order.

Im wondering if theres an easier way to do it (Im guessing by scripting it, but I have no idea where to start!) than creating a different tween for each and every possible combination of mouse clicks..?







Im looking to get this put in to the site fairly soon (the rest is ready to roll you see) so I would really appreciate any help you could give...

Thanks in advance, stu

[keyone.it]

You can either finish making the whole lot of combinations of animations, or you can spend the same time learning how to do it with scripting.

When making dynamic interactive content there are always many ways to do something. Sometimes you will find yourself re-designing the engine of your interactions many times, going from a really long and complex code, to something stupidly simple that makes the same thing with MUCH less code.


In this case I would procede in the following way:

1) I would have the menu be generated dynamically: one CONTAINER MovieClip, within which I would have the buttons created (each button consisting of a MovieClip with a TextField within it).

2) At this point we need something to drive the menu, and we can split it into different tasks:
2.1) A function that will make the CONTAINER slide by the necessary amount to bring the selected button at the same height is the "onesixfor" text.
2.2) A function that changes the color of the buttons (only the button that is closest to the height of "onesixfor" is blue).
2.3) A function that handles the links of the buttons (I figure that when you click a button, another flash movie, with the selected content, will load).


What you need to learn about, to do what I just said is (and you can find all the necessary information in the Flash Help panel, and examples on FlashKit.com):

> MovieClip class
- MovieClip.onEnterFrame();
- MovieClip.onPress();
- MovieClip.createEmptyMovieClip();
- MovieClip.duplicateMovieClip();

> TextField class
- TextField.createTextField();
- TextField.text;
- TextField.color;

> Array class
- Array.push();

> loops (for, with)


Hope this helps,
Ascanio.

p.s.
It's going to be a few headeachs, but it's worth it: ones you have started, you can't stop!