Dynamic navigation elements
You can use the Web Site Navigation drawer in the Palette to add navigation elements to your Web page templates or Web pages.
A navigation bar is a set of links to other Web pages, displayed in as a horizontal or vertical bar, in a Web site. By default, all Web pages are shown in the navigation and appear in the navigation bar; however, typically, not all pages in a site are listed in the navigation bar. Usually the navigation bar contains links to other, closely related pages in a site. For example, the navigation bar usually contains a link to the home page, or the main page for the site, because that page functions as the focal point for the site. In Web Site Navigation, this page is referred to as the top page.
You can specify which pages link from the navigation bar. You can set link preferences so that the navigation bar for each page is dynamically created to reflect those preferences. For instance, if you select that all child pages are to be included in a navigation bar, then the navigation bar for each page dynamically links to only that particular page's child pages.
A navigation trail, also known as a breadcrumb trail, shows the route to the current page. This allows you to return to upper/parent pages.
A site map is a set of links to other pages in a site organized to mimic the structure of the Web site. You can also specify whether a page is to be included in the site map.
Web Site Navigation dynamically generates the navigation bar and site map links when a navigation element is inserted in a page and the page is saved. The Palette view contains a drawer named Web Site Navigation that contains navigation objects, such as navigation bars and a site map, which can be dragged and dropped onto Page Designer's Source or Design page. To open Web Site Navigation, expand your Web project in the Enterprise Explorer view and double-click
Web Site Navigation.
Tip: If you use a page template to govern the layout and visual design of all of the pages in a Web site, you can insert a Web Site Navigation onto the page template, rather than adding the navigation to every page individually. The links in the navigation are then updated dynamically for each individual page in the site.
The following table illustrates the differences between the navigation bars, the navigation tabs, the navigation drop-down lists, the navigation trail, and the site map based on the Web site navigation below:
The various Web Site Navigation options
would look similar to the
following examples in the Preview page of the Web Site Navigation:
| Web Site Navigation | Preview page | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Horizontal Bar | 
| You can go to other closely related pages by following the links in the navigation bar. |
| Vertical Bar | 
| You can go to other closely related pages by following the links in the navigation bar. |
| Horizontal Tabs | 
| You can go to other closely related pages by following the links in the navigation tab. |
| Vertical Tabs | 
| You can go to other closely related pages by following the links in the navigation tab. |
| Horizontal Menu | 
| When you move your mouse over the link, a navigation menu appears with a set of child links. |
| Vertical Menu | 
| When you move your mouse over the link, a navigation menu appears with a set of child links. |
| Tabbed Menu | 
| When you move your mouse over the link, a navigation menu appears with a set of child links. |
| Navigation Trail | 
| You can return to upper/parent pages. Shows you the route to the page. |
| Drop-Down List | 
| You can go to other closely related pages by following the links in the navigation list. |
| Site Map | 
| Provides a set of links to other pages in a site that are organized to mimic the structure of the Web site. |
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