[wp-hackers] Re: 2.5 admin menu thoughts

[Doug Smith]

Chris Poteet wrote:

> I can't agree with this. I don't think drop downs are a big usability
> step forwards, I actually believe often times it's a step backwards.
> I am of the opinion that if you need all these levels of drop-downs
> then chances are the problem is in your IA.


I agree because I've observed so many users getting confused over drop- 
down menus and not being able to find the link they need.

There was study done on this several years ago at User Interface  
Experts:
http://www.uie.com/articles/users_decide_first/

They found that sites without such things were more effective at  
getting users to where they wanted to go. Here's the gist of it from  
the article:

> Unfortunately the information in fly outs, rollovers, or dropdowns  
> can't help users decide where to click because the information isn't  
> available to users when they are making their decision. It isn't  
> until after they've decided where to click that they see what the  
> element has to say.
>
> In our studies, we observed that once users realized there was more  
> information available to them, they stopped and re-evaluated the  
> screen. Users seemed disoriented by this disruption in activity and  
> they lost confidence that they were clicking in the right places.  
> The users now questioned a choice that seemed to be a good one  
> earlier.

--
Doug Smith <doug at smithsrus.com>
<http://smithsrus.com>