Guidelines for menu hierarchies
- Submenus of the currently
touched menu item should be automatically shown (30% less search time and 50%
less errors for beginning users, Snowberry et al., 1985).
-
Menus should not be deeply nested (2-3
levels only).
- The
menu lenght should not exceed 3-12 items. Menus may be longer if they are grouped
or if items have a natural sequence.
- On
the top level and particularly on the bottom ("leaf") level, menus should be longer
than in the middle of the hierarchy (Norman & Chin, 1988).
-
Longer menus are better when working
under time pressure (Wallace, 1988)
- The
total number of different menus in a hierarchy should be low (Norman 1991).
If possible, combine two or more intermediate menus into a single one and deactivate
those menu items that do not occur in the respective navigation path.
-
All entries of the same level should
fit on a screen (no scrolling should be necessary).
- The
hierarchy should be constructed thematically. Sometimes menu hierarchies can be
constructed based on which items are frequently selected together.
-
Constructing hierarchies top-down or
bottom-up? (Chin, 1986):
- Top-down
approach yields broader trees (more menu entries on the top level) and deeper
trees. The emphasis lies on the discrimination of the differences between items.
-
Bottom-up approach yields narrower
trees with broad lowermost level. The emphasis lies on the clustering of related
items.
* Use
a combined approach.
- Consider
menu shortcuts to deeper hierarchy levels.
- External
consistency (with previous program versions or competitive programs): changing
the hierarchical position of menu entries is o.k., as long as lexical identity
is preserved (Foltz et al., 1988).