How to design sub-menus?

Best for user: drop down submenus or submenus in line with main menus?

[ControlEngineer]

A conversation with several people turned to the best way, from a user perspective, of providing two level menus in a left hand navigation bar.

One way is the common drop down menu. Hover the mouse over a top menu item and the submenu appears just to the right of the top menu item.

Another method considered is in-line. On the home page is the top-level menu. Click on (not hover) an item on the top menu, and a new menu appears (with a page appropriate to the top menu item). After clicking on MAIN B item, this menu would be something like:

MAIN A
MAIN B
sub 1
sub 2
sub 3
MAIN C
MAIN D
MAIN E

Any opinions about which is best from the user standpoint? Does anyone have other suggestions?

[2by4]

This thread [webmasterworld.com] should give you enough material to make a solid decision. If it were me, I'd go with option b, no drop menus, menus opening when you're on that section.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I am doing a site redesign at the moment and I have stayed away from drop downs purely because I find some of them quite tricky to manipulate myself and this has turned me against them. When I find things that I don't like I generally assume that I am not alone. I think the link above to the older thread backs this up so I would stick to menus that change when you click into a new section.

For example, if a user is interested in widgets and a drop down offers them a list of 12 widgets they may select one, read the info for a minute, (which changes their train of thought), then find that it was not what they were looking for. They then have to remember where the drop down was triggered. OTOH if, when they click on widgets, it takes them to a new menu system that lists all the widgets they can flip through all of them quite easily.

Slightly off topic but are breadcrumbs seen as being important in this too? I am considering the use of a breadcrumb trail but it will take a bit of work so I would like to know if it is worth it (unless someone knows an easy way of implementing this.)

[zulu_dude]

This is my own personal opinion, but I love it when sites use breadcrumbs. It's a fairly universal way for users to get around, as (unlike menus) they work pretty much the same on every site.

Depends how many levels of navigation your site has, but I reckon you should go with them for any site that has 3 or more levels.

[ControlEngineer]

Thanks for the comments.

In general, I do not like cascading menus and prefer the second option in my post above.

The only thing I like about cascading menus is that I can run my mouse over a menu and instantly see what is in that catagory without loading a new page.

If the total number of 1st and 2nd level menu items is not too great, I would prefer:
MAIN A
sub a1
sub a2
MAIN B
sub b1
sub b2
sub b3
MAIN C
sub c1
sub c2
etc.

That way the entire list of sub topics is available at a glance, but it also allows a two level catagorization. Also, if the menu is shown on every page, the current topic can be highlighted. However, this is only applicable if there are not too many menu items to fit. But I am trying to keep an open mind about it.

Breadcrumbs:
I like them. I frequently use the "Home / Forums Index / The Webmaster World / Webmaster General /" link at the top of this forum page.

[stu2]

What'sa Breadcrumb?

[Vampyre]

What'sa Breadcrumb?

Main Topic > Subtopic 1 > Subtopic 1a

It's basically a quick way for a user to navigate back a level or two.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Look at the text in the light blue line at the top of this page. That's a breadcrumb trail.

[MatthewHSE]

I also tend to prefer no dropdowns, unless the site is very in-depth and the dropdowns provide quick, intuitive access to the "deeper" pages I want to get to. As a matter of fact, I've even been thinking of adding dropdowns to one of my own sites where they would be of potential benefit.

Incidentally, I know some people who are fascinated by dropdowns, of any type, and actually play with webpages that contain them, moving the mouse over them quickly and trying to trick them into showing two menus at a time, etc., and just enjoying the interaction in general.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

They need to get a life ;)

[ControlEngineer]

some people who are fascinated by dropdowns

They need to get a life ;)

Better that they do that than things that distract fellow workers--like popping those packing bubbles all day.

I recently saw a web site, built for the amusement of those who need a break from real work, that had a four level cascade dropdown menu. The trick was to find something on the 4th level and try to get the mouse over it without loosing everything.