Width & Height
The width and height of the applet are set in the HTML code you add to the web page. Be sure to change the dimensions in the <object> and the <embed> tags.

AniMenu's Captions and Items will always match the width you set for the applet, but you must make sure the applet is wide enough to display the widest menu item.

The height should be sufficient that, when the Caption with the most Items is expanded, all items and captions can still be seen.

To avoid the trial-and-error of finding the best size, set the Testmode parameter to 'yes' and click anywhere inside the applet: the minimum width and height will be shown in a tooltip message. You can then edit the HTML code and set Testmode back to 'no'.

Parameters
The parameters below should be added to your datafile in the form NAME=VALUE (for instance, BgColor=FF0000). Each parameter should be on a separate line. You can leave blank lines in the list to organize the parameters into groups if you want to. The parameter names are not case-sensitive, and neither are the values, so BgColor=FF0000 is the same as bgcolor=ff0000. You can add the parameters to your file in any order. Most parameters have a default value which we show in bold text below: if you don't include the parameter in your datafile, the default value will be used automatically.

AnimationSpeed
A choice of normal or fast to set the speed of the menu's animation. The default, of course, is normal.

ArrowColor
If ShowArrow is set to 'yes', this sets the colors of the arrow shown beside the focused Item. If this parameter is missing (and ShowArrow is set to 'yes'), AniMenu will use the color set for ItemTextFocusColor.

ArrowIndent
If ShowArrow is set to 'yes', this value should be a number that sets the indent of the arrow, in pixels, from the left edge of the menu. The default is 5 pixels.

BgColor
Sets the background color of the applet. The default value is FFFFFF (white). (Note that AniMenu can only change the background color after it has loaded. To have the same background color shown before the browser starts loading the applet, change the BgColor setting in the HTML code too.)

CaptionAlign
A value of left, center or right to set the horizontal alignment of text for the 1st-level Captions. The default is left.

CaptionBorderColor
Sets the color of the borders around the 1st-level Captions, with a default of 000000 (black).

CaptionFillColor
Sets the fill color of 1st-level Captions, with a default of 99CCFF (light blue). This color will be used for the top of the caption if you specify a CaptionFillGradientColor.

CaptionFillFocusColor
Sets the fill color of 1st-level Captions when the mouse moves over them. The default is to match your chosen CaptionFillColor (so the caption fill would not change when focused). This color will be used for the top of the caption if you specify a CaptionFillFocusGradientColor.

CaptionFillGradientColor
This optional parameter sets a gradient color for 1st-level Captions. If this parameter is not included, captions will use a solid CaptionFillColor. If you do specify a color for this parameter, it will be used as the bottom color of the caption.

CaptionFillFocusGradientColor
This optional parameter sets a gradient color for 1st-level Captions when the mouse passes over them. If this parameter is not included, captions will use a solid CaptionFillFocusColor. If you do specify a color for this parameter, it will be used as the bottom color of the caption when focused.

CaptionFocusBold
A value of yes or no, according to whether or not a Caption should be shown in bold text when the mouse moves over it. (This will have no effect if the CaptionFont is already bold by default.) The default is no.

CaptionFocusUnderline
A value of yes or no, according to whether or not a Caption should be underlined when the mouse moves over it. The default is no.

CaptionFont
Sets the name, size and style of font to use for the 1st-level Captions, with each part separated by commas. The default is Sans,8,plain.

• Name: You can include any number of font names, separated by pipe symbols (|), and the applet will use the first font available on the user's system. To ensure compatibility, finish with one of these generic names: Sans, Serif or Typewriter.
  
• Size: The size of the font in points.
  
• Style: The style can be plain, bold, italic or bold-italic.

CaptionGradientDirection
A choice of vertical or horizontal for the direction of the gradient-fill used for Captions, with a default of vertical. If the CaptionFillGradientColor and CaptionFillFocusGradientColor parameters are not included, the captions will not use a gradient fill and this parameter will be ignored.

CaptionTextColor Sets the basic color of the text used for the 1st-level Captions. The default is 00000 (black).

CaptionTextFocusColor Sets the color of a Caption's text when the mouse moves over it. The default is FFFFFF (white).

CaptionTextPressColor Sets the color of a Caption's text when clicked. The default is C0C0C0 (light gray).

DefaultTarget
Every Caption and Item can link to a separate URL, and it can open it into a separate frame or window: we provide numbered Target parameters for that. However, you probably want most (or maybe all) the links to open into one particular frame. Enter the frame name in this parameter, and every item without its own Target parameter will open the link into this 'default' frame. You can use the HTML names _self, _top, _parent, _blank or _new. If you leave this parameter out of your datafile, links will open into _self (the frame or window containing the applet).

HoverDelay
If HoverSensitive is set to 'yes', this parameter specifies how long the mouse must pause over a caption before it expands. The value is a number measured in milliseconds (where 1000 = 1 second). The default value is 250 (one quarter of a second).

HoverSensitive
A choice of yes or no to set whether or not Captions should expand when the mouse hover over them. If set to 'no', captions must be clicked to expand them. The default is no.

ItemFocusBold
A value of yes or no, according to whether or not a 2nd-level Item should be shown in bold text when the mouse moves over it. (This will have no effect if the ItemFont is already bold by default.) The default is no.

ItemFocusUnderline
A value of yes or no, according to whether or not an Item should be underlined when the mouse moves over it. The default is no.

ItemFont
Sets the name, size and style of font to use for the 2nd-level Items, with each part separated by commas. The default is Sans,8,plain. This parameter should be constructed in the same way as CaptionFont.

ItemIndent
A number value which sets the number of pixels by which to indent 2nd-level Items from the left edge of the menu. The default is 13 pixels. The value you choose must be sufficient to contain the arrow (which is 5 pixels wide) and the ArrowIndent, if ShowArrow is set to 'yes'.

ItemTextColor
Sets the basic text color of a 2nd-level Item. The default is 000000 (black).

ItemTextFocusColor
Sets the text color of a 2nd-level Item when the mouse moves over it. The default is FFFFFF (white).

ItemTextPressColor
Sets the text color of a 2nd-level Item when clicked. The default is 999999 (mid-gray).

Name
Specifies a name for this instance of the applet. This is only necessary if you are using the applet in conjunction with our free Satellite add-on, and it's explained in the documentation for Satellite, available from the Cool Focus web site. If you are not using Satellite with this applet, it's best not to include this parameter in your datafile (although nothing bad will happen if you do).

SelectedCaption
An optional parameter which specifies the index number of the Caption which should be expanded when the menu first appears (if any). The default is 0, meaning that no caption will be expanded. To expand the 3rd caption, for instance, set this parameter's value to 3. The expanded caption can also by changed dynamically at runtime via scripting (in compatible browsers); see PageSync for details.

SelectorBorderColor
If ShowSelectorBorder is set to 'yes', this sets the color of the selector rectangle shown when the mouse moves over a 2nd-level Item. The default is 99CCFF (light blue).

SelectorBorderStyle
A choice of either box or line. The 'box' setting creates a box around all four sides of the selector; 'line' creates a line above and below the selector. The default is line.

SelectorFillColor
If ShowSelectorFill is set to 'yes', this sets the fill color of the selector rectangle shown when the mouse moves over a 2nd-level Item.

SelectorFillGradientColor
If ShowSelectorFill is set to 'yes', this optional parameter sets a gradient color for the selector rectangle. If this parameter isn't included, the selector fill will be a solid color.

SelectorGradientDirection
A choice of vertical or horizontal for the direction of the gradient-fill used for the selector rectangle, with a default of vertical. This parameter is ignored if ShowSelectorFill is set to 'no' or the SelectorFillGradientColor parameter is not included.

ShowSelectorBorder
A yes or no parameter which sets whether or not the border will be shown around the selector for 2nd-level Items.

ShowSelectorFill
A yes or no parameter which sets whether or not the fill color of the selector will be shown.

ShowArrow
A yes or no parameter which sets whether or not the arrow will be shown beside an Item when the mouse moves over it.

ShowVersion
A yes or no value. This parameter is included in all Cool Focus Flash applets, and its default is no. If set to 'yes', the version number of the applet (and other details) will be shown when the applet starts. This is included only for troubleshooting purposes, to help you determine which version of an applet you're using. It should be set to 'no' (or removed from your datafile) before you publish your page.

Note: If the applet is not registered, this information will always be shown when the applet starts, regardless of the ShowVersion parameter's setting.

SoundCaptionClick
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is clicked on a linking Caption. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundCaptionRelease
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is released after clicking a linking caption. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundItemClick
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is clicked on a 2nd-level Item. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundItemRelease
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is released after clicking a linking Item. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

Testmode
A yes or no value, with a default of 'no'. This parameter is included in most Cool Focus Flash applets, and is used to help you determine the best width and height for the applet. (Because of this, it's best to use this parameter when you've got everything in the applet the way you want it.) Set this parameter to 'yes', then view the applet in your browser and click anywhere inside the applet. You'll see the minimum width and height displayed in a tooltip message, and you can copy these values into the page's HTML code. When you're done, remember to set the Testmode parameter back to 'no' or delete it from your datafile.

Note: If you've specified a list of font names in the applet's font parameters, it's a good idea to check that the applet will be big enough whichever of those fonts is used: with Testmode set to 'yes', move each font name to the beginning of the list and refresh the page to see if Testmode reports that larger dimensions are needed.

TextSensitive
A yes or no value, with a default of no. If set to 'yes', AniMenu changes a number of options to make its Captions and Items behave like HTML links rather than buttons. Only the width of the text is sensitive to mouse movement, instead of the full applet width; selectors are not shown for 2nd-level items and the selector-related parameters are ignored; borders are removed from 1st-level Captions, and the captions' fill color does not change when focused.

Captions
The four parameters below place 1st-level 'captions' into the menu. These are buttons which are arranged in a column. Clicking (or hovering over) a caption can either link to a resource or display a column of 2nd-level Items to be shown. A container cannot act as both a link and a container for items. You must include at least one Caption parameter, or AniMenu will display nothing at all!

The parameters all have numbers after their names, and the numbers must be consecutive, starting from 1. If you want to show 5 captions, but you forget to include a Caption4 parameter, AniMenu will stop looking for any more, and will only find captions 1 to 3.

Caption1, Caption2, ..., Caption_n
These parameters specify the text you want AniMenu to display for each caption. The captions will displayed in numerical order, starting from 1, and you can include as many captions as you like.

URL1, URL2, ..., URL_n
The optional URL to which the Caption with the same number should link when clicked. If you don't want the item to act as a link, don't include a URL parameter for it. To make items behave like links in all respects except linking somewhere (which can be useful for testing), use a dollar sign ($, or when encoded, %24) as the first character of the URL. Note: If you want a Caption to contain 2nd-level items, its URL will be ignored and it will not act as a link.

Target1, Target2, ..., Target_n
The name of the frame or window into which the URL with the same number should open. If you don't include this parameter, the frame name set in the DefaultTarget parameter will be used.

Message1, Message2, ..., Message_n
An optional text message which will be displayed in the browser's status bar (in compatible browsers) when the mouse moves over the Caption with the same number.

Items
These parameters create columns of 2nd-level items for each Caption, which are shown when the caption is selected. They are all prefixed with a number and a hyphen. The number refers to the Caption you are adding this item to: 1-Item1 is the first item added to Caption1. 1-Item2 is the second item for Caption1 and so on. To add items to Caption3, you would use 3-Item1, 3-Item2, and so on.

The URL, Target and Message parameters for the item should be numbered exactly the same way as the Item parameter they work with.

1-Item1, 1-Item2, ..., 1-Item_n
These parameters specify the text you want AniMenu to display for each item. The items will displayed in numerical order, starting from 1, and you can include as many items for each caption as you like.

1-URL1, 1-URL2, ..., 1-URL_n
The optional URL to which the Item with the same numeric prefix and suffix should link when clicked. To make items behave like links in all respects except linking somewhere (which can be useful for testing), use a dollar sign ($, or when encoded, %24) as the first character of the URL.

1-Target1, 1-Target2, ..., 1-Target_n
The name of the frame or window into which the URL with the same number should open. If you don't include this parameter, the frame name set in the DefaultTarget parameter will be used.

1-Message1, 1-Message2, ..., 1-Message_n
An optional text message which will be displayed in the browser's status bar (in compatible browsers) when the mouse moves over the Item with the same numeric prefix and suffix.