To drop down or not to drop downby Stephanie Lummis

When we develop a new web site, the client eventually asks:  Should we use drop down menus for our navigation?

Most clients want them. They see it as a short cut to get the visitor directly where they want to go. While this is true, they can also short cut the user experience.

Lack of Control

Drop down menus were originally designed for applications – where items in the menu represent actions that are controlled and unchangeable:  save, print, copy, etc. They enable access to a function, not a location. 

In a web site, they aren’t controlled. Most content management software allows site administrators to add and label pages. With the subpages hidden and not taking up space on the page, these lists grow with abandon – without thinking of their impact on usability. As menus grow beyond 7-9 items they are not easily absorbed by the brain. There is such a thing as too much choice.

And for those sections with no subpages, visitors will be unsure if it’s broken when nothing drops down, as you’ve created an expectation.

Accessibility Issues

From an accessibility standpoint, drop downs have gotten more sophisticated lately, even becoming 508 compliant. While drop down menus can be read by screen readers and other assistive technologies, they still pose difficulty:

• Visually impaired and older people, as well as people with mobility-limiting conditions such as arthritis and Parkinson’s, find the clickable “target” areas very small and difficult to position the mouse.
• Screen magnifiers result in drop down items disappearing off the bottom of the screen. Scrolling down to see them often deactivates the drop down menu.

Search Engines

Drop down menus are becoming less of an issue for search engines. JavaScript was previously not indexable by search engines, but this has changed. Drop downs coded in CSS and XSLT are indexable but can be buggy in Internet Explorer. Just make sure your coder is using the latest techniques.

People Scan, Not Read

Yes, drop downs expose the list of subpages. But visitors scan menus for the words that match what they are looking for. They aren't reading every word in the list. And if the visitor finds a match, skips a level, goes straight to their page and completes their task, they will leave without exploring and actually be exposed to less of your content.

Opportunities for Persuasion

Aside from the technical limitations, perhaps the biggest drawback is lost opportunity.

Without drop downs you direct the user to a main section page.  Now you have the opportunity to show more of your content and context: provoke curiosity, cross-sell and tease with calls to action about the subpages in the section.

That users do not want an extra click is a myth. Users don't mind this extra click or two, so long as they are confident they are getting closer to what they are looking for.

How do you build in this confidence? Good planning at the information architecture stage makes drop downs unnecessary.  Invest the effort up front to produce intelligently organized, well labelled site navigation. This will guide visitors intuitively through MORE of your site – without the need for drop down menus.