easiest solution?

Uninstall - reinstall of PD...... oooops

Dafydd

Thanks, Dafydd, that will be about as much fun as contracting the plague. I figured it was all going that way anyway. Do I need to migrate all of my custom templates to another folder before I reinstall? If I do, will I stand the chance of having my templates rejected by the new install? I will be putting the templates in the same folder once the reinstall is complete. Nothing else will have moved, ie, images, waves, etc. I have all of these items stored on a different partition. Only the templates will be effected...hopefully.

Jim

OK, so I uninstalled and reinstalled PD6 thinking this would straighten out the myriad of issues I have been having with this program, so I can spend less time troubleshooting why it is not working correctly and more time on my video projects. This navigation button problem is one of many I was hoping to see disappear after the aggravation of a reinstall. Well, I followed the directions posted in this forum for this action, and while some of the problems seem to have gone away, a number of the original problems still remain. Yeah, I know it could be my machine, but these issues can also easily be the software. This navigation button issue is truly annoying.

Several of my video projects are for episodes of the same show with different chapters, main title and episode duration. For ease, I built a custom disc menu template, and I change the different information for each show for each new project. However, the menu designer seems to have a stubborn mind of its own. I built the template using a text link menu. I normally have three to six links per page for one to four pages, depending upon the episode. Some of the problems enjoyed:

1. I can change the highlight color on the text links, but not the navigation buttons. No matter what color I chose for the text links, the navigation buttons only allow green.

2. If I change the size or location of the navigation buttons, the highlight feature disappears altogether. I am blind to which navigation button is active.

3. If I use a custom template, and simply change the show-specific information without changing any template architecture, the text links will highlight properly, but the navigation buttons appear to default to no highlight and I am again blind to which button is active. The only way around this problem is to build the disc menu from scratch every time. This problem occurs even when I copy a template that has fully functioning links and navigation buttons. The copied template navigation buttons do not highlight, and I have to start over.

4. If I open a template, make changes then, save as a new template or just click the green checkmark, the current template maintains integrity. If I reopen the template to edit any feature or simply check details, all of my text links are out of alignment, and I have to realign them every time. If I do not check the apply to every page, the template has a memory only for the first page and the text links of the other pages are out of alignment. This occurs every time I open a template, whether I change anything or not. Extremely annoying!

5. Why is there no way to change the background of a text link disc menu the same way you can change the background of a thumbnail disc menu? The only way I have found to change the background is to add an image and expand it to the size of the menu screen. This poses serious inconvenience when you try to jump between objects on the screen, as the background image usurps precedence at the expense of all other objects. Invariably, you have to resort to the Object Tab select between objects to perform simple editing operations. Further, whenever I save a particular template with a large background object, and I wish to use this template for another episode but with a different background object, the original background image cannot be deleted. I end up having to minimize the size of the first image to hopefully decrease the footprint and conceal the this first image with the second image I want. If I try to delete the first image, it will stay on the screen. If I click on this "deleted" image again, PD usually crashes and I lose everything on the new disc menu. I have learned this the hard way more than once. Sometimes, however, the disc menu does allow me to delete the old background image when I first open it. I have not figured out how or why or discovered how to duplicate this moment of generosity. It just happens. I have recently learned I can delete these extra images through the back door of opening the template in Windows through the menu folder in My Documents. However, this is tricky as the templates are not easily identified, and some templates have more than one folder. So much for being user friendly.

6. Why does this disc menu default to having to always check the box to Apply to All Pages, instead of having a memory where the last setting for a particular template is remembered? I have had to reopen more than a few templates just to check this box after I thought I was finished, all the while having to endure the realignment gymnastics every time as noted earlier.

7. The Help Index is very limited on dealing with disc designer issues (as well as other editing features). The navigation button issue is a great example. The only real reference to navigation buttons explains how to change the highlight color of menu items, but menu items are not the same as navigation buttons. You have to hope and assume they act the same. The Help index also does not tell you what to do if the navigation button highlight color disappears or only stays green. Forget trying to locate information on how to modify or swap navigation buttons, such as why only certain varieties of navigation buttons are only available on stock templates, but not available for use in the custom menu (The buttons on the thumbnailed Paintbrush template are only available for use on the Paintbrush menu. For that matter, some of the button choices in the disc designer are so specific, I cannot fathom why they are included as choices anyway, e.g., the jigsaw, flower and two-tone oval buttons. For a template selection menu, generic styles with changeable colors are a much better feature than what is available in PD6.). And forget trying to get any substantive assistance from the Cyberlink techs for any question. That is laughably nonexistent. Whether or not English is their first or fifth language is irrelevant when they cluelessly demonstrate a low-end intelligence quotient of a chimpanzee when they spit out cut and paste, form letter responses to every question that hopefully sound close to right because the words in the answer are somewhat similar to words in the response. If they happen to get it right on any attempt, it only serves to prove the cosmic truth that a blind pig does find a truffle once in a while. I wonder how many people have turned away from Cyberlink products based upon the shallow tech support from the Tech Line? In my experience, the Cyberlink Help Line solves few if any issues, but it has consistently generated more than its share of angst and frustration separate from the anxiety of the original question. Save this forum, nothing exists anywhere to sort out Cyberlink product issues. Sad commentary.

As noted above, I just did a reinstall of PD6, and several problems persist. I have defragged my HDs, moved some things around to make room for PD functions, and disabled some programs. Short of buying a new machine (which is not an option at this time) or wiping everything off my machine save PD (which is not an option at any time), I am wondering what else can be done to sort out these matters. While the issues noted above are not my only ongoing gripes with PD, I still like PD for its ease of use when it is working properly (and I am highly resistant to change once I have learned how to use a particular program.). However, when I am spending the same amount of time or more on troubleshooting a program as I am on editing my projects, I eventually have to warm up to the idea better software may be out there even if it may cost a little more in time and money in the short term.

Yeah, I know this post is l-o-n-g. I genuinely appreciate the assistance and efforts of anyone who can help salvage my faith and confidence in PD. I would rather be editing. All help welcomed.

Gasping my last before calling it quits,

Jim

It seems that this Navigation Button problem was never addressed in subsequent builds of PD6, PD7, or PD8.

I still see that annoying green highlight using PD8.

Wondering if I have to do more XML diving? Grrrr....

==> Mike.