widget and menu behavior where hover or click shows contents immediately below.
46
votes
17answers
3k views
Adding USA at the top of dropdown list of countries. OK practice or not?
Some web sites have a country dropdownlist where USA and Canada are listed at the top of the list (as well in their normal positions). I read once that this was insulting to non US/Canada users. The ...
31
votes
5answers
3k views
Default gender, “Male” or “Female”
Should our default gender when selecting male/female on the dropdown list be based on the local sex ratio (if a country have more female than male then female is the default value)?
23
votes
17answers
720 views
All my users are from Afghanistan or how to get users to correctly fill out a form
I have a website with a form users fill out to create an account. Following advice from this forum and other places I am asking for only the minimum required information to create an account ie. ...
22
votes
7answers
1k views
Would Breadcrumbs be effective if they incorporate Dropdowns?
I'm currently thinking about adding a quite comprehensive section to a website: the section I'm talking about starts at level 3 of the overall website and itself has another four structural levels. ...
21
votes
6answers
7k views
What should be the default option of a required dropdown list?
Given that there is no logically default animal from the list of animals below, what should be the "Default Value" below, according to best practice?
<label for="animal">Animal ...
19
votes
6answers
795 views
Buttons instead of radio buttons or a dropdown
In a recent project of ours I am tasked with creating an interface that solves the same problem as radio buttons or a dropdown menu would, but using buttons instead.
It approximately looks like this:
...
18
votes
6answers
1k views
Why is there a convention on the web for dropdown menus on hover instead of on click?
This is something I've always wondered. On all major operating systems, application menus (File/Edit/View etc) only appear on click. However, nearly every web site that uses a drop-down menu ...
17
votes
4answers
1k views
How to explain to director that a multilevel dropdown menu isn't a good idea
My director and designer want to make a big drop-down menu on our site. Multilevel menu :
| MENU 1 | MENU 2 | MENU 3 | MENU 4 |
...
13
votes
4answers
254 views
Adding “Select…” as first option (placeholder) of dropdown list
Would it be considered a good practice to add the word "Select..." as the first option of a dropdown list? I think it's redundant and not at all necessary and what is in the dropdown list should be ...
13
votes
2answers
365 views
Most intuitive multi-select component for the web
My target audience are users that are not familiar so much with computers so i try to simplify the UI elements in use as much as possible.
For instance I try to avoid drop down menus and use big ...
12
votes
3answers
689 views
Drawer Navigation vs. Drop Down Menus
Are there any studies on drawer type navigation such as: http://www.ibm.com/us/en/ where the navigation pushes down content, compared to traditional drop down menus where navigation covers up content? ...
11
votes
5answers
2k views
How many items in a web form drop down is too many?
A colleague and I were discussing usability and drop downs and we wanted to know:
Is there a best practice or rule-of-thumb for how many items in a web form drop down (select) is too many? At what ...
10
votes
3answers
409 views
FORMS: When to use dropdowns, and when to use dynamic lists?
Interesting that I couldn't find a discussion of this already.
When should we use dropdown selects, and when should we use dynamic lists (updated as you type) in web forms?
My opinion:
Dropdowns ...
10
votes
4answers
407 views
When should a dropdown be used?
I am working on the design for a large food shopping chain who is holding a contest. One of the requirements was that users can vote for their favorite item online or in the stores. My initial design ...
10
votes
6answers
635 views
Responsive Menu that has a LOT of menu items
We have a responsive menu that on mobile just shows the top level menu items (x8), but on desktop also shows hover drop drop downs with service areas within the parent menu item.
The problem is we ...
9
votes
7answers
555 views
OK for dropdown button to be on the left?
Perhaps a minor point, but I thought I'd ask anyway...Normally, the button to drop a dropdown display is to the right of the display area, but I have the option to put it on either side, like so:
...
8
votes
4answers
435 views
What is the name of this combined button/popupbutton?
This button is in the new Firefox, but what is the name of it?
8
votes
3answers
264 views
Using Dropdowns AND Radio Buttons to avoid confusion
For you reference I wanted to point out that this is a Video project.
I am designing a menu in which the user can choose 1 of 4 formats for SD (standard definition) and two options for HD (high ...
8
votes
8answers
345 views
Icons vs. Dropdown for primary mobile navigation
I am working on a responsive design in which there are 5 selections in the primary navigation. I'm thinking because there are only 5 I could use icons instead of a dropdown for the primary navigation. ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
2 row navigation vs. dropdowns
I've seen two different types of navigation bars when a site requires nested navigation, one where hovering over a link drops down an additional menu, and one where a second horizontal bar is ...
8
votes
4answers
220 views
Navigation menu with only one drop-down child — intuitive or not?
Here is a website's main navigation:
Having sub-navigation on-click is pretty common and irreplaceable:
But as a user and designer, I have struggled with the case where there is only one child ...
8
votes
3answers
373 views
Progressively Filtering Options
I am modelling a selection from a product matrix. The customer envisions this as a series of dropdowns which progressively filter what is available in a subsequent dropdown.
So for example the first ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Usability of multi-level tabs versus dropdown menu for navigation
We're in the middle of a redesign of our client portal, and there's been some discussion about whether to pursue a multi-level tab design or a dropdown menu (used on the current version of the ...
7
votes
3answers
285 views
Side Navigation Arrow Placement Right or Left?
I have been working on a project that involves reconstructing a page side navigation. Throughout the project i've researched current trends in navigation structure and noticed arrow placement on the ...
7
votes
3answers
409 views
How to improve the usability for dynamically populated drop downs?
I am working on an application for a client which has a "unique user interface" in which I want to improve.
Currently, when the user comes to this web page, there's only one drop down shown for ...
7
votes
2answers
102 views
Should I change how a list is displayed based on number of options?
In a web application I work on, I have been asked to change an existing 'Owner' field from being free-form to accept only predefined values from a list.
Sometimes that list can be manually configured ...
7
votes
2answers
562 views
What do UX guidelines say about dropdown boxes in table cells?
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
I have been trying to look at Apple Interface Guidelines and Windows UX guidelines about what standard behavior for drop ...
6
votes
3answers
398 views
Pros & Cons? - Single dropdown VS double dropdown VS multi level dropdown
I’m working on an application with some complex dropdowns which have selectable main categories and sub categories. Some dropdown lists could have up to 40 options - which is quite intimidating to new ...
6
votes
5answers
907 views
Replacement for long drop-down list
I'm currently working on a part of our application in which the user edits a document. Part of the application allows the user to input certain "parts." We've implemented this as a couple of drop ...
6
votes
3answers
232 views
Links inside a dropdown
I'm wondering if links inside a dropdown provides a valid user experience, if it isn't part of the main navigation of the site.
For a news website I'm trying to come up with a nice way for the ...
6
votes
4answers
395 views
How to handle inter-related dropdown choices?
I've got a form containing (among other things) 3 dropdowns, each with about 5-10 choices. The choices in these dropdowns are closely related and some of the permutations will be invalid. This also ...
6
votes
5answers
256 views
What is a good way to display side navigation levels?
For the past few weeks I have been working on reconstructing my employers side navigation. While attending a recent meeting, discussion on side navigation hierarchy arose and there was a debate on how ...
6
votes
2answers
117 views
Nested dropdowns in mobile view
So i build a website using bootstrap.
The problem is that i have nested drop downs. The link below is image for dropdowns that look nice and not cluttered in desktop version.
However this is how it ...
6
votes
1answer
128 views
Drop down list vs. clickable map
I'm working on a web tool that requires users to choose their region as a search filter. I'm trying to decide if it will be best to use a drop-down list (there will be 15 regions) or a clickable map ...
6
votes
2answers
131 views
Best usability: visual presets or simple action?
I'm working on a webapp that lets designers generate CSS through an intuitive interface. Right now I'm working on the Shadows panel and I can't decided which option has the most versatile usability. ...
6
votes
2answers
219 views
A workable tag auto-suggestion design for mobile devices
Over at Stack Exchange we (fairly) recently rolled out a mobile design for all of our sites. This was definitely a 1.0 attempt, and while I think it's a huge improvement over what we had (which was ...
5
votes
6answers
552 views
Drop-down field with only one value
If there's a form that requires a user to select, let's say, one of the email addresses he/she has on file in his account, would it be bad practice to make that menu item a drop-down regardless of how ...
5
votes
2answers
403 views
When are drop-down menus really necessary?
I always find myself with customers who want drop-down menus because 'they are used to them'. So I started to wonder: When are drop-down menus actually necessary?
5
votes
3answers
465 views
Autocomplete returns more than X records
I have read How many items in a web form drop down is too many?. I almost agree with Vitaly's answer: no more than 30 (X) items in a drop down. So if auto-complete request returns more than X records, ...
5
votes
3answers
161 views
Dropdown select or Dropdown select + button?
There seems to be two contradicting conventions on web applications. One is that a Dropdown-control also is an action button, meaning that when a user selects an item in the Dropdown control, an event ...
5
votes
2answers
56 views
Choice Box or Tabs for multiple contents in a view [duplicate]
I am going to display a small view in my application that contains contents to be picked. The contents are sorted in an undetermined quantity of categories.
Would it be preferred to sort them in ...
5
votes
1answer
245 views
Price plan table with multiple payment options
I have a pricing plan table with multiple payment options. I'm not sure whether it is best to place the pricing options in a drop-down (and fire off the submit on the "onchange" event) or simply have ...
5
votes
2answers
197 views
Arrows for Navigation/Menu/Expandables Misleading?
When a user visits a site they are presented with some sort of Navigation Structure. Typically the arrow is a standard convention that alerts a user that when this item is clicked an action will ...
4
votes
3answers
761 views
Which is better to design a Filter?
Which is better for filter, select a single value:
Check box ( Use js to keep single selection )
Dropdown list
Radio buttons
Highlighted labels
download bmml source – Wireframes ...
4
votes
3answers
120 views
Why not default a user's view to the middle of a sorted list?
Is there a compelling reason (besides convention) why a user's typical default view of a long sorted list is always the beginning of the list and not the middle? Assuming a random distribution of ...
4
votes
2answers
214 views
“File” for name of drop-down menu
In Windows mostly, a lot (most?) applications have a "File" drop-down menu, with things like "Exit", "Import/export settings", "Preferences", ...
Is "File" a blindly accepted standard/default? ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Alternatives to cascading drop down interfaces
Our development team needs to create an interface to select a vehicle. First the user will select the Year, then the Make, then the Model, and finally an Engine. The valid choices for each choice will ...
4
votes
2answers
185 views
User-friendlier dropdowns with hoverIntent?
Is it a good idea to use hoverIntent (which introduces a slight movement-predicted delay to prevent accidental hover-offs) for user-friendlier dropdowns?
...
4
votes
2answers
128 views
Break up options in a drop down by scope
I'm working on a social application whose main component we'll call Object. On the Object view there is a drop down that can contain as many as 9 options.
Some of these options impact only a single ...
4
votes
1answer
318 views
Best practice: dropdown selection with associated settings.
We have the following Dialog (see Screenshot) in our software, that I would like to improve.
1) The user should select a profile (screenshot: dropdownbox on the left) to use for the following ...
