need help deciding

[chrisann]

I have one of pappashop designers making me a website but I need ya'lls opinion on something. I do a few dif kinds of glass art so is it better to have the really long type of menus or go with a drop down type on your website?
My torchwork consists of hard and soft glass but I also do fusing. I'm not sure how I want everything seperated on the website. Should I go with a fused glass gallery, beads, sculpture, hard, soft etc or put the torchwork stuff in one gallery and fused stuff in another? A lot of my fused stuff will have lampworked components in it as well.
I'm going with a shopping cart as well and the menu for that needs to follow along the same type as the other I guess. Is there a rule of thumb for this? I'm confused.
Any suggestions or help is appreciated. I may cross post this in the bathroom as it gets more traffic LOLOl.
chris ann

[Glassgoodies]

Hi Chris!!! :D

My personal preference is dropdown menus and depending on the shopping cart used, you can link products to more than one category while maintaining inventory control.

For example, your main menu categories could be Torchwork and Fusing. You could then add subcategories of Boro and Softglass if you want (I wouldn't). Add your items to each category and if any items fit multiple categories, just link them. That way they show up in each category, but you only insert it once.

For the gallery, I would just put it in all places that fit. Gimme a call if you need further clarification of what I mean.

[chrisann]

Thanks Shawnette.

[jaychantell]

Just a note about PappaShop's software....
If you choose a dropdown menu, you will need to use a script for that and hopefully all your visitors have the ability to see the dropdown in whatever browser they use. Not all scripts are visible to all browsers.

Also, there are built in pages and the ability to add new pages on the fly and have them show up in the menu. If you use a dropdown menu, you will need to make the page, make the new dropdown line of code and hand link that new page yourself in order for it to show up in the dropdown list. So, while a dropdown menu might seem logical, there are some drawbacks. Just thought I should mention this before you got too far.

Jocelyn

[chrisann]

Thanks Joc, I hadn't thopught of that nor gotten with Tami yet to discuss it. I certainly don't have the ability to do that so maybe I'll just go with the other type of menu, it just seems like it would be a lot of catagaories to put in there. I'll talk it over with Tami and see what she says.
thanks
chris ann