DHTML Lab: HierMenus CENTRAL: Version 3.x FAQ #15 - dhtmlab.com

Frequently Asked Question #15

Entered: August 22, 2000

Yes. In fact, you can easily make any of your in-page parameter variables platform or browser-specific.

Let's take font size as an example, since this is the variable that creates the most platform problems. It is one of our Global Parameter Variables, set in-page:

fntSiz = 10;

Earlier in our in-page script, we have declared variables that relate to browser, version and platform used:

     NS4 = (document.layers);
     IE4 = (document.all);
    ver4 = (NS4 || IE4);
     IE5 = (IE4 && navigator.appVersion.indexOf("5.")!=-1);
   isMac = (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Mac") != -1);

These variables are always available to us, and we can use them when declaring our Global Parameter Variables. For example, if we want Macintosh users to display menu items in a 12 point font, we can use this syntax:

fntSiz = isMac ? 12 : 10;

As we know, IE5 for Macintosh displays font sizes using the Windows standard, so you might want to exclude IE5Mac from the larger font size declaration:

fntSiz = (isMac && !IE5) ? 12 : 10;

Here are two more examples:

The font family assigned is the platform system font, giving the menus an OS-look:

fntFam = isMac ? "Chicago" : "MS Sans Serif";

IE for Windows allows authors to access the User-Defined System Colors. See our discussion in Column 24. In the example below, menus are created in the user's system colors for IEWin and in hard-coded colors for all other users.

backCol = (IE4 && !isMac) ? "menu"           : "#CE9A9C";
overCol = (IE4 && !isMac) ? "highlight"      : "maroon";
fntCol  = (IE4 && !isMac) ? "menutext"       : "black";
overFnt = (IE4 && !isMac) ? "highlighttext"  : "white";