[TYPO3-hci] Quick Question: Pull-down menu library?
Sebastian Erlhofer
erlhofer at mindshape.de
Sun Sep 17 18:57:34 CEST 2006
Hi,
> Anyway, my intension is - as you ask for - to make this completely
> extendable / replacable by extensions!
Thats a good idea. But we should keep in mind that we gain best
"usability" with developing good working stuff from the beginning. I
mean, the "standard-menu" will be used by perhaps >80% of TYPO3-Users,
so this should be the best usability-proofed. :)
Or: Lets try to look through the users' eyes, and then think about how
to technically get, what we / they want. Not the other way round.
> As sebastian suggests we can usability test both.
I'd suggest we create several html/css/xml/js/whatever-sheets for
prototyp-testing. Then we can do a small compareable study to gain some
clues on how they are used.
Greetings,
-sebastian
Kasper Skårhøj schrieb:
> 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!"
> -------------------------------
> kasper2006 at typo3.com | +45 20 999 115 | skype: kasperskaarhoej |
> gizmo: kasper_typo3
>
>
>
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--
Sebastian Erlhofer
medienagentur mindshape freiburg / trier
Jakobstraße 31
54290 Trier
mail erlhofer at mindshape.de
http www.mindshape.de
fon 0651.4639823
fax 0721.151368557
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