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Rearranging buttons on a DVD menu

Each iDVD theme has a specific number of buttons (usually up to 6 or 12) that can be placed on the main menu and each submenu. By default, these buttons are automatically placed on the menu according to an invisible grid that evenly spaces and lines up the buttons. You can manually turn off this grid so you can place buttons anywhere you want on the menu. Also, if you add one more button to a menu than is allowed by the theme, the grid switches off automatically to allow you to position the buttons freely on the menu.

When you turn the grid off, you can also reposition the back and forward arrows that appear on some menus to allow navigation to other menus.

To freely position menu buttons:

Step 1

Open the menu whose buttons you want to reposition.

Step 2

With your pointer over the menu, press Command-I to open the Menu Info window.

Step 3

Select “Free positioning” under the Buttons heading at the bottom of the window.

Step 4

Drag the buttons on your menu to any position you want.

As you drag buttons, yellow grid lines appear that help you align buttons on the right, left, or in the center.

When “Free positioning” is not selected, the placement of buttons is restricted to the TV safe area in standard video (4:3) projects so that the buttons are visible when the DVD is viewed on a TV screen. To see the boundaries of the TV safe area while you are positioning buttons, choose View > Show TV Safe Area. Anything within the red rectangle should appear on most TVs. With the red rectangle showing, you can reposition buttons within the safe area.

If your project is widescreen, choose View > Show Standard Crop Area. The area inside the red rectangle should be visible on most TVs.

Note: No matter where you position buttons on the menu, they are highlighted on the menu in the order in which they were created. So, when a viewer is using the arrows on a remote control to access the various buttons on your DVD menu, the buttons may not be highlighted in the order you have arranged them on the menu.

Related Topics

Copying or moving buttons to other menus

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