Hi, I recently asked for a critique of one of my websites that uses a vertical menu that flies out to submenu’s, he suggested that hidden menus may reduce click-through rates?
Any views,
Dave
[font=verdana]There are three things I would consider:
Accessibility - Can everyone actually use the menu? If your menu requires Javascript to work then you’re going to lock some people out. If your menu doesn’t support keyboard navigation then you’re also going to lock some people out. What about mobile phones? As well as support for Javascript not being guaranteed, touch screens make effects like :hover and onMouseOver problematic, and with mobile browsing increasing at a rate of knots, this is becoming more and more of an issue.
Affordance - Is it obvious to visitors that there are further menu options? Are the visible menu options sufficient that, even without knowing there are hidden options, visitors would be drawn to click on the top-level menu options?
Usability - Assuming that a visitor’s system is technically capable of accessing the flyout menus and that they realise they are there, how easy are they to use? If you have a vertical menu with items flying out to the side, this is harder to use than a horizontal menu with drop-down lists. Why? Because there’s a narrower route that you have to trace with your mouse – you have to follow a pretty much exactly horizontal path to remain on the menu, whereas with drop-downs you’ve got the full width of the menu item to wobble around in. You can get around this to some extent by using Javascript to give a slight delay so that a menu doesn’t disappear immediately you veer off course but remains there for a moment to allow you to get your mouse back onto it.
That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use flyout menus, but just some words of caution and things to consider. If done well, flyout menus can be a great solution and have minimal usability/accessibility problems. But if not done so well, they can cause problems for a lot of people[/font]
Hi Steve, thanks for replying and providing valuable feedback, the flyout menu is pure css, no graphics involved, and I truly think it adds to the site, I would be loath to remove it. Although the menu does flyout to the side I think I will live with it awhile and view bounce rates, to see if the menu is truly an issue.
Again, thanks for getting back.
Dave
Usability - Assuming that a visitor’s system is technically capable of accessing the flyout menus and that they realise they are there, how easy are they to use? If you have a vertical menu with items flying out to the side, this is harder to use than a horizontal menu with drop-down lists. Why? Because there’s a narrower route that you have to trace with your mouse – you have to follow a pretty much exactly horizontal path to remain on the menu, whereas with drop-downs you’ve got the full width of the menu item to wobble around in. You can get around this to some extent by using Javascript to give a slight delay so that a menu doesn’t disappear immediately you veer off course but remains there for a moment to allow you to get your mouse back onto it.
That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use flyout menus, but just some words of caution and things to consider. If done well, flyout menus can be a great solution and have minimal usability/accessibility problems. But if not done so well, they can cause problems for a lot of people