Menu-based interface

When the menu-based interface is effective:

* users have little training
* use the system only intermittently
* are unfamiliar with the terminology
* need help in structuring the decision-making process
Menu design issues [Norman, 1991]
* semantic organization & menu-structure
* item presentation sequence
* response time & display rate
* short-cuts, phrasing of items, selection devices, graphic layout, .....etc
semantic organization & menu structure
* meaningful & categorical organization is better
o groups of logically similar items
o groups that cover all the possibilities & non-overlapping
* menu structure:
o single menu
+ binary menu, multiple-item meunu (radio buttons), extended men
u, pull-down & pop-up menu, multiple-selection menu (checkboxes)
o linear sequence
+ same sequence regardless of user's choice
o tree-structured:
+ depth: # of levels, breadth: # of items per level
+ recomendation: 4-8 breadth and 3-4 level
+ depth vs breadth tradeoff --- prefer breadth over depth
+ total selection time = depth * (k + c log breadth) [landauer &
Nachbar, 1985]
o acylic & cyclic menu network
* provide menu maps: because of sense of disorientation and lost proportiona
l to depth
Item presentation sequence
* typical sequences
o chronological ordering, ascending or descending ordering, increasing
or decreasing of physical properties (length, area, ...)
* artificial sequences
o alphabetic sequence, grouping of related items, most frequently used
items first, most important items first
Response time & display rate
* speed is a critical control variable for menu
o system response time: selection --> disply
o display rate: characters/second
* design of menu
o in slow response time: more items on each menu
o in slow display rate: fewer items on each menu
how to provide short-cuts for menu-- for frequent users
* menu with typeahead
o the BLT approach: concatenation of menu selectioins becomes a comman
d
* menu name for direct access
 * menu macros for frequently used paths
menu selection mechanism
* keyborad oriented
o numbers: clear sequencing/ numeric keypad only
o letters: sequential lettering or mnemonic lettering
* GUI menu features
o mouse clicks or touch screen
o iconic menu, dialog box, radio button, check box, text entry fields,
scrollable lists,...
Menu system screen design guideline [shneiderman, 1992]
* use task semantics to organize menus
* prefer broad and shallow to narrow and deep
* show position by graphics, numbers, or titles
* use item names as titles for trees
* use meaningful groupings of items
* use meaningful sequencing of items
* make items brief, begin with keyword
* use consistent grammar, layout, terminology
* allow typeahead, jumpahead, or other shortcuts
* allow jumps to previous and main menus
* consider online help, novel selection mechanism, response time, display ra
te, and screen size