A menu is a list of commands presented to an operator by a computer system
42
votes
7answers
5k views
What's the best way to view a deep hierarchy?
I've been pondering the best way to show a deep hierarchy for a desktop application I'm working on. Here are some alternative designs I'm considering...
Mac OSX Finder:
If you understand what ...
30
votes
4answers
2k views
Don't hide or disable menu items?
In 2008, Joel Spolsky wrote:
A long time ago, it became fashionable, even recommended, to disable
menu items when they could not be used.
Don't do this. Users see the disabled menu item ...
29
votes
1answer
3k views
What is the significance of the three dots “…” on menus and buttons and how to use them right?
Adding three dots after the title of items in a dropdown menu seems to be a common practice (as you can see on the picture of a drop down menu in Google Chrome). They generaly mean that there is ...
29
votes
12answers
1k views
Hover over a disabled item to know why it's disabled. What do you think?
How many times did you use a desktop app or an online page and you come across one or more menu items which are disabled and you have no idea why its disabled. Using help or documentation is of no ...
28
votes
8answers
4k views
Is 'Home' button still a must?
I was wondering if the 'Home' button is still a must on a website menu, or are users already used to clicking on the Logo?
There is a qustion on ux.stackexchange.com about this topic - Home button vs ...
23
votes
7answers
1k views
Help menu - “?” or “Help”?
It is a very simple question, but it has been bothering me for quite some time: when creating an application, should the help menu (in the menu bar) be called "?" or "Help"?
I can see a few ...
20
votes
5answers
6k views
What is this side menu called that can be found in many multi-touch apps, and where does it originate from?
It can be found for example in the YouTube and Facebook app.
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 |
...
15
votes
5answers
2k views
Usability research on sticky headers?
Sticky (or fixed) headers are not so uncommon nowadays, and for a large website that relies heavily on catalog and search functionality it may be a good choice to aid the user.
As I am currently ...
14
votes
6answers
517 views
What is more pleasing to the eye fade in or suddently appear
I have a pop up menu. What is said to be easier on the users' eyes? Should I just have it appear immediately using visibility = true or should I have it fade in using opacity animation?
14
votes
4answers
1k views
How to best indicate navigation menu on mobile
What's the best way to indicate the navigation menu on mobile?
I see this three-bar icon being used a lot but do users really understand what it means?
Wouldn't a button simply saying "Navigation" ...
13
votes
7answers
774 views
Are hover menus in headers easy to use?
Do users find it easy to use headers/menus like the one displayed below?
13
votes
2answers
556 views
What is the name for the horizontal tabs expanding / contracting kind of navigation?
Can somebody tell me if there is a name for this kind of tab navigation implementation?
13
votes
4answers
498 views
What are good rules for naming menu items? [closed]
I'm establishing some style guidance for naming items which are accessed from my application's menu bar.
What are the commonly accepted rules for naming menu items?
When should the names of the ...
13
votes
4answers
332 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
1k views
Custom right click context menu on a web site
Are right click context menus that override the browsers context menu considered a good usability practice?
If so, are there accessibility concerns?
If so, are there any guidelines or best ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
How to represent level of difficulty while selecting a game?
I am working on a menu to select from various (3) game variants shown from top to bottom, each variant offering different difficulty levels.
The difficulty will be selected by swiping (touch input ...
12
votes
8answers
1k views
Which side of a web page should a side menu go on?
Many websites have side menus and I seem some have the side menu on the right and some on the left.
Which side is better?
12
votes
4answers
315 views
Toolbar buttons - to be or not to be?
I need to create a toolbar for my application, and let's assume that due to external constraints it must be a regular toolbar, not a ribbon. The application itself has a significant number of ...
11
votes
6answers
449 views
Should we avoid using the word “my” in menu items?
I'm working for a site that is basically a regional/provincial hub for everything from events to classified ads.
When you first get on the homepage you get provincial news, events, classified ads and ...
11
votes
5answers
445 views
Term for menu that appears at the top of many webpages
What is the term for the menu that appears at the top right of many webpages? Here are two examples:
11
votes
6answers
878 views
full-color icons vs. greyed-out icons in menus
Icons in menus are often full-color. Even though the page an icon/menu item controls is not active, the icon still appears in its normal hues. To distinguish the icon which is active, a designer will ...
11
votes
5answers
500 views
What alternatives are there for “My x”, like in “My Documents”
I'm working on a tool where people place work and other people choose to do that work. The menu now has the following items:
Choose work (which lists all possible things you could do)
Place work ...
10
votes
4answers
920 views
Better approach to blue/underlined for link?
We have a web application that allows users to query a database.
The results are returned in a breadcrumb style interface.
We brought this change in at a new version, and assumed it was ...
10
votes
6answers
894 views
User Profile, My Account, or just Settings?
I am writing a little webapp, and am stuck on a UI hangup. I have a global menu bar at the top of the screen, that when the user is signed in consists of:
Signed in as Joe User (with username as ...
10
votes
4answers
181 views
What order to choose for subnavigation links in mega-dropdowns?
We have changed our navigation and switched to a mega-dropdown-menus. Now we had some discussion how to arrange/sort the subcategories inside the dropdown layer.
One opinion is that the user is ...
10
votes
2answers
240 views
Are there any studies that show the quickest mental processing for capitalization of header menu items for a website.
In header menus on websites, is it best practice to capitalize header items?
Home | Members | About Us | Contact Us
To Captitalize the first letter
Home | Members | About us | Contact us
Or to ...
10
votes
6answers
829 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 ...
10
votes
2answers
265 views
If a sticky window panel is larger than the screen size, how should I display it?
I have one panel at the right where users can choose search options that is a sticky panel.
However, on different screen sizes etc., if the height of this panel is higher than the screen height not ...
10
votes
2answers
197 views
Please recommend Improvments to the SE Menu Structure
Over at Programmers Meta we are haveing a discussion about the SE Menu Structure. Someone recommend we ask the Pro's over here for recommendations.
So, What could\Should be done to Improve the SE ...
9
votes
2answers
631 views
CRUD Operations icons vs. menu
What would you suggest the best practices for CRUD operations options.
Consider the following design; Should i keep icons for each operation or create a drop down menu with all the options inside?
...
9
votes
1answer
351 views
Where should the “preferences” item go in a desktop application?
I find that the "preferences" menu item is always in a different place, and often under an arbitrary name which always makes it a pain to locate unless you're already familiar with the software.
I ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
Fixed-position header and menu on a web page — is that okay?
A client of mine is insisting on two things for a website I am designing:
That every single link is shown in the header – about 10 links or so with no sub-categories. ie. no drop-downs, rollovers, ...
9
votes
4answers
341 views
Is it still preferred/acceptable to right-align the Help menu in Windows applications?
Back when I first learned Windows GUI programming, it seemed very common to right-align the Help menu in applications.
It seems this is no longer the norm in all of the Windows applications I ...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
Microsoft Visual Studio 11 - why would they use uppercase in UI?
Microsoft has been very transparent with their updates to Visual Studio 11. It includes a huge change to the UI design of the entire IDE, most notably colour themes, icons and capitlization.
In their ...
8
votes
4answers
452 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
2answers
1k views
Fixing UI Antipattern “multiple menu levels”
My brain seems to be pre-programmed to make administrative UI's look like the mockups below.
In the mockups I have 3 levels of navigation, with on the form another set of buttons for the form ...
8
votes
3answers
192 views
Why do menu labels behave differently in desktop applications and websites?
In a desktop application when you click a menu, you see all the options which reside within it, in a drop-down/pop-up list.
In many websites with a navigation menu which has sub-categories, I have ...
8
votes
4answers
230 views
Is the upper-left logo an acceptable place to put a master site nav menu?
For a number of reasons, having a number of main nav dropdown menus in the top bar isn't feasible. I'm considering making a master site navigation dropdown by clicking a down arrow right next to the ...
8
votes
4answers
553 views
What is a good replacement for the menu bar in a Windows app?
The old Windows menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc. ) is tried and true, but seems to be disappearing from popular usage. I have a new desktop/client application that I am developing and I would like to ...
8
votes
5answers
447 views
Renaming a file you are currently working in, why is this still not done?
We've all experienced this: You open a new document inside an application such as Word, Excel, Textmate, or others. You work on it for a while and save it. Then you wish you could rename it. What ...
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
221 views
Linking a Navigation menu item to external URL
3 of 7 links on my navigation menu are external links to others websites (same company but other services/not the same domain). Those websites are not the core of the business.
Linking a navigation ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Are circular menu / button interfaces intuitive?
I have been seeing a few of these 'Circular menu' UI concepts around.
Recently a similar UI was proposed as a central element for a large project I know of. For example, one of the options would be ...
8
votes
3answers
574 views
Is breaking long menu names into two lines bad design?
I have a requirement in which I have to design a horizontal navigation with 6 menu items.The challenge here is some of these menu items are pretty long and if I tried putting all the menu items on one ...
7
votes
5answers
435 views
Should menu items be listed alphabetically or in order of most common use?
I have a bunch of little submenus on a site I've inherited and their ordering is pretty random. I know there has been research showing adaptive menu ordering is confusing/frustrating and that a ...
7
votes
3answers
359 views
Horizontal and vertical menus in web applications
It is now very common to find top horizontal menus in websites. Some reason of that might be habits and Jakob's law.
In web applications you might find a menu on top or on the left side equally. Most ...
7
votes
3answers
302 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
532 views
Horizontal menus, do they scale?
I'm a user of a popular website that uses horizontal menus for navigation. As the site's functionality grows, the number of menu items also grow. As the horizontal space is limited, the design choice ...
