XML rollover with flyouts

[Vard]

OK supersmart people...I need (and would appreciate deeply) someone pointing my in the right direction for the following request.

I don't do a lot of web based stuff, but I do manage the website for my wife's espresso bar. I have been playing with the idea of a complete revamp based on how people tell me they use the site.

I have read a bit about XML and think it would be very useful for how often I am updating events and the lunch menu and similar items. Being able to edit a text document without having to deal with the html everytime would be extremely helpful to me.

So I was thinking about some kind of rollover that, once rolled-over, would generate a flyout that called the XML data. For example: The lunch menu for a particular day would read Lasagna, and when you rolled over the word, a flyout paragraph (which I think would look cool with a semi-transparent background) would show up describing in detail what kind of lasagna, the price and any other piece of information.

I don't need someone to tell me how to do this (although if you want to save me time, by all means) but I would appreciate being told what to read up on. Is this a Java type thing, or can normal HTML handle this, or do I need to be looking at php or some other form.

I usually work by coming up with an idea and then learning how to do what I want. If someone can point me in the corrrect direction I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for whatever you can offer,
Vard

 

[uoba]

Hi Vard

The rollover pop-up/flyout will be Javascript. (If you use Dreamweaver then this will be simple). Unfortunately, the transparency idea would be more difficult (I think Explorer for Windows may support it in some form, but your dealing will cross-browser issues then). You could use Flash, but that's another story .

I suggest you check out http://www.w3schools.com for their XML tutorial. Within the advanced section, there is the part about grabbing text data from an external XML file for inclusion into a HTML file (I was checking up on the very same idea a few weeks ago).

Unfortunately, none (and I mean none!) of the Mac browsers will recognise the XML text within HTML, they just plainly do not support it yet However, Explorer for Windows will see it.

You won't need PHP. Just your HTML file, with the Javascript within the HTML file. And, an XML file with your text in.