A navigation bar is a group of buttons. Typically, a navigation bar remains, or seems to remain, on a Web page as other parts of the page change. An easy way to create a quick navigation bar is to duplicate a group of buttons, but change the text and the URL link on each button.
To create a simple navigation bar:
| 1 | Create a button with only the graphic elements and no text. |
| 2 | Create a new, empty button. |
| 3 | Drag the original button from the Library into the new empty button. You now have a button instance on a shared layer within the new button. |
| 4 | In the Layers panel, select a layer that is not a shared layer, and add text to the new button in each button state. |
| 5 | In the Down and Over While Down tabs, select the Include options, as appropriate. |
| 6 | Close the Button Editor. |
| 7 | In the document, duplicate the button with text. |
| 8 | For each duplicate button, change the text using the Object inspector. |
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To update the graphics of all the buttons in a simple navigation bar:
Use the Button Editor to edit the original button (the button without text).
Fireworks updates the other buttons to reflect the new appearance. Because the text is unique to the newer button symbols, it will not be affected when the graphic is updated.
You can also create a more complex navigation bar, using the Down and Over While Down states.