Question

Too many checkboxes!

Asked by: psenn

I'd like to have a feature that I've seen on Amazon.
I've got a bunch of <input type="checkbox"> elements that are taking up too much screen space.
I'd like to "hide" them until the user hovers over them.  
Kind of like the "show all 41 product catagories" at Amazon, only not so annoying.
So the user would hover over the area where a "drawer" would pop out, showing them the options that could be checked.
Then when they move the mouse outside of the open drawer, it would fold back into where it belongs.  Similar to the Windows Start button.
Any ideas?

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Asked On
2007-05-22 at 18:24:21ID22588925
Tags

many

,

drawer

,

checkboxes

Topics

JavaScript

,

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Participating Experts
3
Points
250
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: ZylochPosted on 2007-05-22 at 18:28:47ID: 19138762

You can try a script such as

    http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex1/slideinmenu4.htm

It uses an external HTML file, so just have checkboxes instead of menu links.

 

by: VirusMinusPosted on 2007-05-22 at 18:44:34ID: 19138823

depends on how exactly you want to do it...

here's one way:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<html>
<head>
      <title>Untitled</title>
      <style type="text/css">
      a.drawer{position:relative;z-index:20;font:bold 9pt tahoma;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #333;padding:5px;text-decoration:none;}
      a.drawer:hover{color:red;z-index:25;background:white;}
      a.drawer span{display:none;}
      a.drawer:hover span{position:absolute;top:2.5em;left:0;display:block;width:200px;height:200px;background:lightblue;border:1px solid blue;z-index:99;font:normal 8pt tahoma;color:#333}
      </style>
</head>

<body>

<a href="#" class="drawer">Show Checkboxes
      <span>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah blah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1">  blahblah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah<br>
      </span>
</a>


</body>
</html>

 

by: psennPosted on 2007-05-22 at 19:02:44ID: 19138891

VirusMinus,

This is exactly what I was asking for Dude!
The only problem is the drawer keeps closing as I try to hover over it.
I'm somehow losing my hover between "Show Checkboxes" and "blah blah".

 

by: VirusMinusPosted on 2007-05-22 at 19:13:22ID: 19138934

oh ok...

there is a small gap there between the button and the drawer.. adjusting the top position should take care of that, try this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<html>
<head>
      <title>Untitled</title>
      <style type="text/css">
      a.drawer{position:relative;z-index:20;font:bold 9pt tahoma;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #333;padding:5px;text-decoration:none;}
      a.drawer:hover{color:red;z-index:25;background:white;}
      a.drawer span{display:none;}
      a.drawer:hover span{position:absolute;top:25px;left:0;display:block;width:200px;height:200px;background:lightblue;border:1px solid blue;z-index:99;font:normal 8pt tahoma;color:#333}
      </style>
</head>

<body>

<a href="#" class="drawer">Show Checkboxes
      <span>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah blah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1">  blahblah<br>
            <input type="checkbox" value="1"> blah blah<br>
      </span>
</a>


</body>
</html>

note: you could use scripts like what zyloch mentioned but i think the easier scriptless options are smaller, more efficient, better to use and maintain

 

by: ZylochPosted on 2007-05-22 at 19:14:57ID: 19138943

Yes, I agree. The only real benefit of the script is the animation, which is what came to mind when I thought of drawer.

 

by: brunobearPosted on 2007-05-22 at 19:24:08ID: 19138976

if you don't mind using JS, would be pretty easy to whip something up w/ a library like jQuery.

 

by: psennPosted on 2007-05-22 at 20:05:45ID: 19139135

While the javascript solution(s) are sexy, the CSS one was simple enough for me to understand.
Thanks Virus!

 

by: VirusMinusPosted on 2007-05-22 at 21:02:29ID: 19139273

you're welcome! Thanks for the A :)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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