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Drop down menus

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Jernt
Posts: 838 - Karma: 96
What are your thought about them? Do you navigate site using them? I'm trying to upgrade the site I work for www.fitcityduluth.com and have had suggestions to rid the site of the drop downs. I like them though. This may be a lame thread, but let me know what you think.

Thanks
Oct 28 2009 1:59PM
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Keyjibbs
Posts: 1542 - Karma: 96
I like if they are done right. The one on fitness activities or whatever has wayyyy to many choices and even more when you scroll on them.
Oct 28 2009 2:06PM
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Abc567def
Posts: 8756 - Karma: 801
I think it depends on the site. If it is a site that gets high traffic from first time visitors it is often easier for them to navigate without drop down menus because they do not have to find out which tab associates with each sub-category. However a site that tends to have a high return rate of users allows the use of drop down menus because they already know where to find the located item at the same time as reducing the clutter of the site. So there is a time and a place but generally I am personally a fan of them.
Oct 28 2009 2:07PM
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Jernt
Posts: 838 - Karma: 96
Thanks for the input. I am thinking that we would have a simplified version of this drop down, without the extra stuff to the side. I wouldn't want to navigate a site, having to go back to one reference page.

Any more thoughts?
Oct 28 2009 9:35PM
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the_friesz
Posts: 1007 - Karma: 18
I think sites a much easier to navigate if they have drop down menus.  This site could probably be easier to use if they had them; did it not at one time?  The way the menu is now makes it a bit more labor intensive to navigate e.g. Forum > Down>  Then horizontally across in order to get to the particular forum you want...  You have to be absolutely over that horizontal bar at all times or the menu will revert back to the home menu.  Oh, and right now the search bar is impossible to see, at the very least they could put some words in the search bar so you could see it.
Nov 1 2009 5:28PM
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[Dawn
Posts: 1718 - Karma: 69
if there done right, then there tight.

and yes i meant to do that.
Nov 1 2009 5:51PM
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frosted_flakes
Posts: 1200 - Karma: 1,256

i navigate with whatever is given to navigate, but a dropdown on every page is convenient. the only time i've paid attention to site navigation is when it gets too complex and confusing

drop down menues, clean and simple, like

Nov 1 2009 5:54PM
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Jernt
Posts: 838 - Karma: 96
I agree about the clean and definitely the simple. Any other thoughts?
Nov 2 2009 1:54PM
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KarmaInitiative
Posts: 2028 - Karma: 174
dropdowns arent always bad, but the dropdown on your site is just plain overwhelming (the fitness menu specifically). not totally sure how i would fix this though
Nov 2 2009 4:33PM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
Use names that people can easily identify. Home, About, News, Contact, Help. Things like that. Mootools is a great tool to use also. Very clean and quick.
Nov 2 2009 4:49PM
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debrickshaw
Posts: 1957 - Karma: 68
this
it really depends on what kind of site it is/ what kind of users you are getting

if you are getting alot of complaints you should probably at least simplify them
Nov 2 2009 5:03PM
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