NEW SiteCM Navigation Control: Mega Dropdowns

Late last year our development team worked on a project that had Rob all a twitter. We've been seeing more and more websites with content in their flyout menus. Images, calls to action and the like are placed to one side or the other of a flyout when the visitor hovers over a top level menu item. To do this as a developer or web designer who has full control over layout and code is one thing but to do it in a content managed environment is another. Well we've pulled it off with the use of one of our most used components, Content Blocks.

SiteCM 3.5 has built-in capabilities to add unique content blocks to each menu item. When you combine that with our latest navigation control SiteCM:MegaDropdown the result is a very powerful menu.

The megadrop down is essentially three things in one control. It is a flyout menu first and foremost with a top level dropdown. Inside that dropdown is a fully expanded accordion menu and content block for each menu item you can specify in the menu section of the SiteCM manager. What that essentially means is that the child items for a megadropdown menu display not as flyouts but all at once accordion style with some custom content to the left, right, top or bottom.

You can see this in action over at our SiteCM site and on Sport Fishing Institute a great redesign by the lovely Lea Gucciardi.

As with all of our SiteCM components implementation is quick and easy. Paste the designer control in your header file where you want it to appear, add in the corresponding menu ID acquired from your SiteCM manager and then style accordingly. The styling is the trickiest bit because you are styling three things in one. The css sheet is ready for you with all the classes you need and is well commented for guidance along the way.

Something to think about for your next SiteCM design project!