Formatting/Organizing a Start Menu

Discussion, questions and support.
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jvroom
Posts: 28
Joined: Apr 30th, ’21, 12:37

Post by jvroom » Jun 3rd, ’21, 19:35

Hi All,

I've started to create a toolbar Start Menu. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6a6hC9YCAZD1xH6G6

How can I create "Section Header(?)" labels?

Customer Service <--- 1st Section Header label
Then have the first 7 items on the list under it

Vaccine/Reopening Guidance <--- 2nd Section Header label
Have additional items listed under this section

...and more sections having a header/section/title and additional items below it.

(When clicked, each option opens a webpage)

I'm open to other design ideas/suggestions if they may offer more capability/flexibility. (Unfortunately, I'm not a code person, but I can sometimes do some code cutting and pasting and maybe on a good day handle some variable setting)

I'm inspired by and would like to achieve a result similar to this...
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1516

Thanks to all who reply with ... help, tips, suggestions, etc.
Last edited by jvroom on Jun 4th, ’21, 13:03, edited 2 times in total.
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Marko
Posts: 1718
Joined: Mar 2nd, ’13, 21:02

Post by Marko » Jun 3rd, ’21, 21:30

The trick for making the section headers is to create empty dummy entries (Type Run). Then set the individual menu icon and color etc. by selecting ... button.

You can set other general menu settings in Preferences/Start Menu - More options.

Play with the settings until you find the appearance you like and then post it here. :D
jvroom
Posts: 28
Joined: Apr 30th, ’21, 12:37

Post by jvroom » Jun 4th, ’21, 19:14

>>
The trick for making the section headers is to create empty dummy entries (Type Run). Then set the individual menu icon and color etc. by selecting ... button. You can set other general menu settings in Preferences/Start Menu - More options. Play with the settings until you find the appearance you like and then post it here. :D
<<

Hi Marco, Thanks for the reply. (I had a bit of trouble figuring out what a "dummy entry" was, and how to use it properly, but I eventually figured it out.)

For other's who may stumble upon this post/topic, the following may help you...

I went to FastKeys>>Start Menu>>Clicked the "+" at the top right of the screen (to add a new menu item)>>Top left of window/dialog that pops up, got set to "Run" (from the Blue drop-down menu option)>>In the large text (code?/macro?) box I entered "dummy_entry" (without quotes) as my "dummy entry" value.>>I then entered my desired Start Menu (Topic?/Section?/Header?) text in the "Menu" box/field (I left the submenu box blank)>> Clicked Ok, and that accomplished the goal. (Yes, after successfully creating the menu Topic/Section/Header, I then went about changing colors, and other visual design options. for that and other menu entries.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ARLCjV3XPSbrcjYT9
jvroom
Posts: 28
Joined: Apr 30th, ’21, 12:37

Post by jvroom » Jun 4th, ’21, 20:21

Hi All,

Using this as a reference...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ARLCjV3XPSbrcjYT9 <--hopefully this works.

Issue 1:
When I include commas and ampersands in a menu items subtitle, they disappear (get stripped out). Is there a trick to getting these characters to display in the menu button text?

Issue 2:
Something is causing verticle white lines to sort of cut through the middle of both columns of my menu items. Does anyone know what's causing this, and how to fix the issue?

Issue 3: Is there a way to change the menu's titlebar text & background colors?

Issue 4: In Start Menu properties, there's a setting where you can adjust the width of columns, but the maximum value you can set is 300. My columns are wide and am able to type in a value higher than 300...and it seems to work...but, when you go back to the setting later, the value shown is 300 and not the higher value I set. (I think I set it to like ~450 or 550, but it shows as 300. Any way to get the >300 number to "stick"/save?
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Marko
Posts: 1718
Joined: Mar 2nd, ’13, 21:02

Post by Marko » Jun 5th, ’21, 21:01

1. That’s the software limitation
2. In a Toolbar, submenu items are connected with a line. You could use main menus instead of submenus. You could also use a regular Menu type instead of a Toolbar.
3. These are following Windows system settings.
4. The Toolbar tile width is limited to 300px. In your case, maybe the regular menu would work better - you can change the menu type in the Preferences.
jvroom
Posts: 28
Joined: Apr 30th, ’21, 12:37

Post by jvroom » Jun 5th, ’21, 21:58

Hi Marko,
Thanks for the reply, answers, and suggestions Very much appreciated. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
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