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I'm trying to write a Master Page that provides the top level menu for all pages irrespective where they are in the directory structure. The menus I've attempted to use in the Master appear to be built with the relative links at the level where the Master Page resides, rather than at the level where the content page is located.

Is this correct, or am I doing something wrong?

Without seeing what you have already done it is unsure to say. But the master page has the menu on the header and footer you can place it on a grid or use page header or page footer tool.

If you want to use master page like a frame then place content place holder just between the header and footer and if you want to show it like an embedded page then no need for content place holder just use the master page option and direct the other pages to that master page.

Is this correct, or am I doing something wrong?

Yes, this is correct.
As documented in the help, the master page should be in the same folder the the pages that use. Otherwise the (relative) links will not be valid.
Alternative, you can use absolute links. Or use 'Synchronize with Site manager'.

Okay. Thanks for that, although I'm not sure what you mean by " use 'Synchronize with Site manager'." The menus that I'm having problems with have that property set already, so I'm guessing this isn't part of my solution.

I see that absolute links would certainly cure the issue, but that makes building to my test computer an issue. I'll guess I will make two Masters and rename them when I want to change build destinations.

I meant, instead using a master page for the menu, use 'Synchronize with Site manager'.

Ahh. My misunderstanding. Thank you.

Absolute links didn't really solve my problem as that makes it impractical to easily test the site on a sand pit. Since I wanted to have a menu at the very top of the page, moving the menu out of the Master Page and into the content wasn't practical either.

Not being an expert, the problem seems rather easy(*) to overcome by having the relative addressing start at the top level directory and work down, rather than the directory holding the file and work up. While that can be done manually, that essentially throws away the automation that the directory objects currently provide.

easy(*) - the amount of work to complete a task, but only if you are not the person who has to do it.

The idea behind a master page, is to reuse objects on multiple pages. But this also means that the HTML is the same for all those pages.
So, if the page is in another folder then a menu with relative links will not work. because the HTML is the same but the location is different.