[TYPO3-hci] Quick Question: Pull-down menu library?

[Kasper Skårhøj]

Thanks all,

I'm surprised that tabbed menus would win a usability contest.

Anyway, my intension is - as you ask for - to make this completely  
extendable / replacable by extensions! So, imagine a base layout with  
a horizontal space for - typically - the menu bar and another space  
below for - typically - shortcut icons (and below this, you find an  
IFRAME with the actual TYPO3 module in, substituting the current  
"content" frame).

In the "menu" space and "shortcut icon" space you can add small AJAX  
applications supplied by extensions. By default TYPO3 would come with  
a "menu" extension in the "menu" space which generates a drop-down  
menu with the module. In addition there will be a selector for  
workspaces, one for searching etc. But the point is that anyone could  
add a little application up there fore their own extensions.

This way, we need to settle for a default menu but could easily  
deliver alternatives as needed.

My first step is to create this framework and then I want this team  
to help fill it in with default applications for 4.1!  My personal  
favourite remains a drop-down menu, which in my eyes is the time- 
proven and effective solution, but everyone can prove his/her point  
by making a tabbed menu.

As sebastian suggests we can usability test both.

- kasper




On Sep 17, 2006, at 12:43 , Erik Svendsen wrote:

> Hello Kasper,
>
>> What does a "tabbed menu" look like? How does it compare functionally
>> to a normal pull-down menu that any application normally has? And if
>> tabbed menus are better, then why don't all normal applications stop
>> using pull-down menus in up to three levels?
>>
>> - kasper
>>
>
> I don't know why applications are primarly using dropdown and not  
> tabbed
> menus. One reason could be that dropdowns use less space than  
> tabbed. Another
> could be that MS started to use dropdown together with icons when  
> they made
> their first Windows/Office version (back in early 90). But remember  
> that
> dropdown are sude together with iconbased menu/shortcuts to most  
> used functionality.
> But I think this is going to change the next years.
>
> Mostly are tabbed menus used together with configuration forms, and  
> TYPO3's
> flexform are using a kind of tabbed menus.
>
> But more important, what could be some pros and cons with dropdown  
> and tabbed.
> And remember, this is my opinion.
>
> Dropdown-menus
> Pros:
> * Space effective
> * Short movement of mouse (most times)
>
> Cons:
> * Slipping (when you got slightly out of the dropdown, you have to  
> start
> over again.)
> * Don't work well with tabbing and shortcuts (I haven't found any  
> yet amongst
> CSS based, but there are amongst Javascript based (DHTML))
> * You have to "restart" the menu everytime you are going to another  
> module/choice.
>
> Tabbed menus
> Pros:
> * Work very well with tabbing and shortcuts
> * All choices on level2 inside one sections are one click away (or  
> one shortcut
> away)
>
> Cons:
> * Take more space (double height and more)
> * Longer mouse movement inside the menu, expecially when you have  
> many menuobjects.
> * Don't work well with more than 2 levels. But there are possible  
> to use
> dropdown on third level.
>
> I suppose there are more pros and cons.
>
> The main reason i got aware of tabbed menus, are a project I'm  
> doing for
> some customers. They wanted me to make an evaluation of MS Vista  
> and MS Office
> 2007 (usability, training costs and so on). In this project I did  
> some testing
> with users, and almost everyone found the tabbed menu better to use  
> than
> old dropdown. I didn't use any eyetracker, so it's only what the  
> users said
> in the evaluation afterwards.
>
> But I'm sure that some would prefer dropdown, other tabbed, and  
> maybe some
> would have dropdown together with iconbased meny for the most used  
> choices
> (modules). Editors, administrators and developers would probably  
> prefer different
> solution, mostly because of the number of menuobjects and workflow  
> you are
> using.
>
> And as said earlier, I prefer tabbed most of the time. But to me  
> the most
> imprortant are:
> 1. The decision of what should be the standard BE menu is taken  
> after all
> possibilities are evaluated regarding to usability and accessebility.
> 2. The technical solution gives the opportunity to choose old left  
> menu and
> new top menu.
> 3. It should be possible to develop both dropdown, dropdown with  
> icon to
> most used modules and tabbed. Not that all should be standard,  
> choose one,
> but if someone want to make an alternative through an extension, it  
> should
> be doable.
>
> And I think MS choice of tabbed menus will change how menus are in  
> a lot
> of applications in the future. Like it or not, MS's way to do  
> things change
> the world.
>
> Peter/Tapio's tabbed menus need a lot of refinment to be really  
> usable. But
> the technical base and idea are there. I think designing tabbed  
> menus are
> more complicated than designing dropdowns.
>
> WBR,
> Erik Svendsen
> www.linnearad.no
>
>
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- kasper

"Gimme Five!"
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