Re: Submenu navigation

[Nils Barth <nils_barth post harvard edu>]

Sorry for taking so long.

Thus spake Gustavo Joćo Alves Marques Carneiro:
>   IMHO:
>     1- A simple timeout (like windows) is enough;

This causes strange behaviour.
For example, suppose there are two menuitems with submenus
item1
item2
next to each other.
If you just implement a timeout, then if you move right from item1
then down, you will get something from submenu1.
If you move down and THEN right, you clearly desire an element from
submenu2, but a simple timeout cannot distinguish these.

Basically, if you move directly down from item1 to item2, then
submenu1 should collapse, but if you move over to submenu1 (i.e.,
diagonally), then submenu1 should not collapse.

This behaviour is desireable, and can only be achieved by some kind of
navigating region or keeping track of the pointer direction, not just
a timeout.

>     2- Submenus should always be opened vertically centered around its
> parent menu item, so that the pointer has to move less to reach a
> menu. Like this:
>           
>            item1 
>            item2
> parentitem item3
>            item4
>            item5
> 
> instead of this:
> 
> parentitem item1
>            item2
>            item3
>            item4
>            item5

Fitt's law suggests that this is a good idea.
However, people are familiar with top-justified menus (windows, mac,
NeXT, Motif, most everything), so if this is provided, it should be an
option.
I'll see if I can make a patch to that effect next week (I'm currently
moving/graduating).

>     3- Something needs to be done about menus that don't fit inside the
> screen:
> 	a) split the menu into smaller menus, with a "More >" item;
> 	b) implement scrolling, like Window Maker, Enlightenment, etc.

Re: a) EEK! Sorry, Motif's menu handling is ugly.
Scrolling seems much better.
This leaves the question of whether one should have scroll arrows or
if the menu should just scroll as you approach the edge of the screen
(as in Enlightenment -- I don't know about WM).
I'm of the mind that little arrows help, b/c they make it visibly
clear that there's more of the menu there, and make it reasonably
obvious that if you go to the arrow, the menu will move in that
direction.

Admittedly, Enlightenment's behaviour is kinda sleek-looking, but it
can be a little confusing to have a window (the menu) that's bigger
than the screen and which is moved by approaching the edge.
This is unfamiliar to users -- all other windows don't move unless
dragged, and over-long pages (for instance) are dealt with by a
scrolling window (w/ scroll-bars).
Thus, a scrolling menu a la Mac (or sometimes windows) would seem
preferable to an Enlightenment-style one.

-- 
  -nils