In the last 3 months, my REW template (semi-custom now) site has grown from 140 to over 300 pages, mostly city and subdivision specific IDX snippet search pages, and I will be adding another couple hundred pages in the next few months. As a result, IMO, the standard REW side navigation was just not exposing enough of the available content to consumers in a user-friendly way. I had already found a really slick "accordion" style menu for my non-RE Joomla site, and asked REW to replicate that, as best they could. The result is now in production. While it still has a couple of minor irritations, it is still pretty slick, and I have already had rave reviews on the new menu from a few users, so I thought I would share it here. I have also authorized REW to offer it to any other REW client who wants it, for their normal custom programming fees, of course. Now that they have done it for me, future iterations should be much easier and quicker.

__________________
Ron Goodman, GRI, REALTOR®
Prudential Colorado Real Estate
Denver Colorado Real Estate: Highlands Ranch, Parker, Littleton, Castle Rock
Adwords for Real Estate: PPC Setup Services & Consulting

Ron - I think it's quite brilliant -- just a great looking organizational solution given the amount of content on your site. My only thought may cost more money -- so sorry in advance! What do you think about highlighting the main side nav. (vs. the slight color change as it is now) once it's scrolled over and the sub-navs come down. I know the indentation helps create this separation which clearly defines the sub-navs (and it's intuitive to me) but the accordion moves with quite some pace and on a smaller screen, I got lost just for a sec. But if you highlighted, I think one's eye would naturally follow (web savvy or not). I think it's one of those nuances that may create just that tiny bit of extra clarity that creates a superior experience. Hope that makes sense and well done.
- Kevin

__________________
Kevin Koitz, from The Koitz Group @ Long & Foster

Washington DC Real Estate | Bethesda Real Estate | Bethesda Real Estate News |

Serving the Washington DC Metropolitan area including Montgomery County MD, Washington DC, & Northern Virginia

Good point on the highlighting. Since the sub-items are not displayed until the mouse is over the main item, perhaps just a minor css change to the style of the sub-items would do the trick. Then the style of the main item wouldn't need to change, because the style of the sub-items would be enough of a contrast that it would really make the selected group stand out better. I'll keep that in mind for a later project.

__________________
Ron Goodman, GRI, REALTOR®
Prudential Colorado Real Estate
Denver Colorado Real Estate: Highlands Ranch, Parker, Littleton, Castle Rock
Adwords for Real Estate: PPC Setup Services & Consulting

Yeah, I like the sub-nav. subtle change instead of main nav. Whatever the case, I was just nitpicking. I love what you've done. Continued success, Ron...
- Kevin

__________________
Kevin Koitz, from The Koitz Group @ Long & Foster

Washington DC Real Estate | Bethesda Real Estate | Bethesda Real Estate News |

Serving the Washington DC Metropolitan area including Montgomery County MD, Washington DC, & Northern Virginia

I think the nav is slick. It seemed to zoom a bit fast but that is probably a better problem to have than too slow.

__________________
Carolyn Gjerde-Tu

Davis CA Real Estate
Granite Bay Real Estate Sacramento Real Estate