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May
07
2009

On a Crusade Against Drop-Down Menus

By | Design, News & Notes, Usability

8 Comments

crusadepuroticoricoAnyone who worked with me at the publishing company will know that I am completely (almost) against using drop-down menus on websites.  Why?  Well there are lot’s of reasons…

They’re cool

I hate using anything because it’s cool.  If you have a business reason for using something, that’s one thing, but using something because it’s cool, just isn’t.  Most things that are used for this reason are annoying and quickly become yesterday’s fad.  Besides, you’re running a business, not trying to join a high school clique.

They don’t work well

While this problem has improved, many sites still don’t implement drop down menus very well.  They’re hard to use and clicking on just the right link is very difficult.

They don’t show up on mobile devices

This has been improved as well.  But even if they do work on mobile devices, they’re even more difficult to use than when you have a mouse.

What about people without a mouse

There are people out there using computers without mice – text readers and other devices for people with disabilities, and other devices.  Some drop-down menus will have accessibility for people with keyboards or other devices, but often this is forgotten.

They’re a crutch

In order to properly (if there is such a thing) use drop down menus, information needs to be organized in a way that makes sense.  There needs to be some sort of hierarchy.  Most sites that use drop down menus don’t have a true information hierarchy, they just use cute titles that only make sense to the designer or marketing guy.  And there’s almost always a bunch of pages that don’t fit anywhere and are thrown under a Misc. heading – not very helpful.

It’s hard to find things

People are much faster at scanning a page than mousing over menu items to see what’s in them.  While your drop downs may seem like they’re saving time, they really are causing seconds of time for every use – that really adds up.

They’re annoying

I don’t know how many times I’ll go to a site with drop down menus and my mouse will happen to be over one of them.  All of a sudden a menu pops up when all I’m trying to do is read an article.  Now I have to take the time to move my mouse so I can do what I came to the site to do.  Or, I’ll be trying to navigate through a site but I can’t seem to get my mouse in the right place to keep the menu open long enough to click on the text – it can be pretty trying to click on a small word just to go to another page.

They’re a fad

For the most part, large sites have started to go away from drop-down menus (yay!).  They’ve found that people can scan through a long list of links much faster than they can hunt through different drop-down menus.  Having all the major links on a page means that it’ll be easier for people to find other reasons to stay on your site, instead of leaving or clicking off.

(photo by puroticorico)

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  • http://www.kittyhawkstudios.com/ pb

    Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. The technology for drop downs vary WILDLY, and yes the information organization is always better if subnavs are on the relevant pages, rather than all hanging off the nav. (Or have secondary nav ON the main page.)

    Plus, we can build simpler, less expensive, more reliable websites, particularly for small businesses.

    Yes.

  • http://www.kittyhawkstudios.com pb

    Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. The technology for drop downs vary WILDLY, and yes the information organization is always better if subnavs are on the relevant pages, rather than all hanging off the nav. (Or have secondary nav ON the main page.)

    Plus, we can build simpler, less expensive, more reliable websites, particularly for small businesses.

    Yes.

  • http://sazbean.com sazbean

    PB – I love your conviction. Thank you for your comment and for reading (and for sharing in my crusade).

  • http://sazbean.com Sarah Worsham

    PB – I love your conviction. Thank you for your comment and for reading (and for sharing in my crusade).

  • Jay

    When not used as the PRIMARY device for getting at second (or goodness forbid third, fourth, etc.) level content, I don’t see the harm in drop down menus.
    With the exception of the accidental hover/click, which can indeed be annoying, there aren’t many usability concerns that haven’t been overcome by the fine-tuning of this particular navigation scheme over the years. Visual cues on hover of drop down menu items to afford clickability, generous hotspots for each item, timers to help prevent accidental menu closings, etc.
    When employed alongside a strong navigation scheme and solid information architecture, I definitely wouldn’t classify drop down menus are a crutch, but rather just another way to explore content.
    However, when used as the singular means of getting at lower level content, they are absolutely maddening.

  • Jay

    When not used as the PRIMARY device for getting at second (or goodness forbid third, fourth, etc.) level content, I don’t see the harm in drop down menus.
    With the exception of the accidental hover/click, which can indeed be annoying, there aren’t many usability concerns that haven’t been overcome by the fine-tuning of this particular navigation scheme over the years. Visual cues on hover of drop down menu items to afford clickability, generous hotspots for each item, timers to help prevent accidental menu closings, etc.
    When employed alongside a strong navigation scheme and solid information architecture, I definitely wouldn’t classify drop down menus are a crutch, but rather just another way to explore content.
    However, when used as the singular means of getting at lower level content, they are absolutely maddening.

  • http://sazbean.com sazbean

    Hi Jay. Thanks very much for your comment (and for reading!).

    I think a lot of the usability issues in terms of being difficult to use have been “mostly” solved, but I think a main usability issue still remains – it is MUCH faster to scan a list of links versus using a mouse to hover over multiple menus in order to find a link. That said, there are drop downs that tend to help in certain situations – Nielson calls these Mega Drop Downs. There’s more info here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mega-dropdown-menus.html

    In my opinion drop-downs are over-used because the reasons to use them are not justified. When an interface element is used just because it looks good, that’s not design. However, if its use can be justified in terms of look, usability and information architecture, then you’ve done your job as a designer.

  • http://sazbean.com Sarah Worsham

    Hi Jay. Thanks very much for your comment (and for reading!).

    I think a lot of the usability issues in terms of being difficult to use have been “mostly” solved, but I think a main usability issue still remains – it is MUCH faster to scan a list of links versus using a mouse to hover over multiple menus in order to find a link. That said, there are drop downs that tend to help in certain situations – Nielson calls these Mega Drop Downs. There’s more info here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mega-dropdown-menus.html

    In my opinion drop-downs are over-used because the reasons to use them are not justified. When an interface element is used just because it looks good, that’s not design. However, if its use can be justified in terms of look, usability and information architecture, then you’ve done your job as a designer.