Web page menu header or navigation bars are essential parts of website design. In the past most people use Javascript to create pull-down menus. It would take considerable amount of java scripting for web designer to get the right design and right options on the navigation menu, and incompatibility problems arise often between different web browsers and Javascript versions.

Because of the popularity of Flash, more and more websites are using flash menu to replace javascript menu systems. Flash menus provide better browser compatibility — as flash web menu appears and works the same in all browser and operating system conform to the Adobe Flash standard. Base on Adobe’s website information, over 98% of web users now have flash installed with their browser.

A main attracting factor of your website is the website’s appearance and design. Javascript language does not support high quality graphics or animations. In contrast, flash menu is often visually Rich, and comes with high quality graphics and animated effects, which make using a flash header and navigation menu bar much more attractive than a static Javascript menu. In additional, Javascript is disabled by many users for security reasons and popup blocking. For these users, Javascript menus will simply become invisible and leave a big blank area on your website — which gives your visitors a very poor impression about your website.

Another main advantage of flash menu is its easy maintenance. Most flash menu stores its settings in a single SWF file, changes to site navigation are very easy. Just upload the new file to your site and refresh are instant. If you use Javascript menu, as the javascript code is repeated to all pages, you would need to edit all pages.

To create a flash menu, you can do it in 2 ways. You can either program it yourself using Adobe Flash software plus actionScript — which require techniques such as timeline control, frame labels, use of button event handlers, and animation skills.

To create flash menu the easy way, you can consider to use a flash menu building software. Most flash menu builder software provide a wizard and easy steps to make flash menu, you can simply choose a ready made design from a collection of flash menu templates, and then fill your menu captions, links, and define sub-menus.

A flash menu creator makes it easy for beginners and starters to build a flash menu navigation bar in minutes with just few mouse clicks. Even highly skilled webmasters might find the flash menu software a great time saver for creating flash dropdown menus.