Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru

Autonomous Institute, Affiliated to VTU

Accredited by NBA | NAAC with ‘A’ Grade

MODULE 3
SYSTEM MENUS AND NAVIGATION
SCHEMES
Shashank N
7th
SEM
Assistant Professor
CSE - B
Dept. of CSE
Our Vision: “VVCE shall be a leading Institution in engineering and management education enabling individuals for significant contribution to the society”

17-10-2025 1
 CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Structures of menus
• Functions of menus
• Contents of menus
• Formatting of menus
• Phrasing the menu
• Selecting menu choices
• Navigating menus
• Kinds of graphical menus.
 INTRODUCTION
• A system contains large amounts of information and performs a variety of
functions
• The system must provide some means to tell people about the information
it possesses or the things it can do
• This is accomplished by displaying listings of the choices or alternatives
the user has at appropriate points while using the system, or creating a
string of listings
• These listings of choices are commonly called menus
• Menus are a major form of navigation through a system and, if properly
designed, assist the user in developing a mental model of the system
• Menus are effective because they utilize the more powerful human
capability of recognition
• Menu information must often be remembered and integrated across a
series of screens
• Graphical and Web systems are heavily menu-oriented. They vary in form
and are applied in diverse ways
• In graphical systems they are used to designate commands, properties that
apply to an object, documents, and windows
• A graphical system presents a variety of menu styles to choose from. They
include menu bars, and menus called pull-downs, pop-ups, cascades, tear-
off, and iconic
• In Web site design, common menus include textual links to other pages,
command buttons, and both graphical and textual toolbars
 STRUCTURES OF MENUS
• Menus vary in form from very simple to very complex
• They may range from small dialog boxes requesting the user to choose
between one of two alternatives, to hierarchical tree schemes with many
branches and level of depth
• A menu’s structure defines the amount of control given to the user in
performing a task
• The most common structures include
• Single Menus
• Sequential Linear Menus
• Simultaneous Menus
• Hierarchical Menus
• Connected Menus
• Event-Trapping Menus
 SINGLE MENUS
• Simplest form of menu
• A single screen or window is presented to seek the user’s input or
request an action to be performed
• A single menu may be iterative if it requires data to be entered into it
and this data input is subject to a validity check that fails.
• The menu will then be represented to the user with a message
requesting reentry of valid data
• Single menus conceptually require choices from this single menu only
• Common Examples
at a point in the dialog people may be asked if they wish to “Stay Connected”
or “Disconnect”
In playing a game, choices presented may be “novice”, “intermediate” or
“expert”
Novice
Intermediate

Expert
 SEQUENTIAL LINEAR MENUS
• Sequential linear menus are presented on a series of screens
possessing only one path
• The menu screens are presented in a preset order, and, generally,
their objective is for specifying parameters or for entering data
• The length of the path may be short, or long, depending upon the
nature of the information being collected
• All the menus are important to the process at hand and must be
answered in some manner by the user
• Sequential path menus have several shortcomings
A long sequence may become tedious as menu after menu is presented
The user may not remember an answer to a previous question
The user may also want to return to a previous menu to change an answer or look at
an answer, an awkward process that must be allowed
Finally, the user may, conceptually, want to complete the menus in a different order
than which they are being presented
 SIMULTANEOUS MENUS
• Instead of being presented on separate screens, all menu options are
available simultaneously
• The menu may be completed in the order desired by the user, choices
being skipped and returned to later
• All alternatives are visible for reminding of choices, comparing
choices, and changing answers
• The tedium associated with a long series of sequential menus is
greatly reduced
• Problems with simultaneous menus
• For large collections of menu alternatives screen clutter can easily occur, and
screen paging or scrolling may still be necessary to view all the choices
• This type of menu must also clearly indicate menu choice relationships and
dependencies
• Presenting many menu dependencies and relationships on a screen,
especially if poorly indicated, can also be very confusing for a novice user
 HIERARCHICAL MENUS
• When many relationships exist between menu alternatives, and some
menu options are only appropriate depending upon a previous menu
selection, a hierarchical structure is the best solution
• A hierarchical structure results in an increasing refinement of choice
as menus are stepped through
• Examples include,
• From options, to sub options
• From categories to subcategories
• From pages to sections to subsections, and so on.
• The top level of the tree is considered level 0 with subsequent levels
numbered sequentially beginning with number 1
• Starting at the top, level 0, two selections, or mouse clicks, are required
to reach level 2
• Disadvantages of a hierarchical scheme include
The defined branching order may not fit the users conception of
the task flow. If users are not familiar with the hierarchical menu,
or are unable to predict what sub options lie below
A particular choice, they may go down wrong paths and find it
necessary to go back up the tree to change a choice, or perhaps
even return to the top-level menu
 CONNECTED MENUS
• Connected menus are networks of menus all interconnected in some
manner
• A connected menu system may be cyclical, with movement permitted
in either direction between menus, or acyclical, with movement
permitted in only one direction
• These menus also vary in connectivity, the extent to which menus are
linked by multiple paths
• The biggest advantage of a connected menu network is that it gives
the user full control over the navigation flow
• Its disadvantage is its complexity, and its navigation may be daunting
(seeming difficult to deal) for an inexperienced user
 EVENT-TRAPPING MENUS
• Event Trapping menus provide an ever-present background of control
over the system’s state and parameters while the user is working on a
foreground task
• They are, in essence, a set of simultaneous menus imposed on
hierarchical menus
• In a graphical system, for example, existing together are a
simultaneous menu, the menu bar, and a hierarchy—the menu bar
and its pull-downs
• Event-trapping menus generally serve one of three functions.
(1) They may immediately change some parameter in the current
environment (bold a piece of text)
(2) They may take the user out of the current environment to perform a
function without leaving the current environment (perform a spell
check)
(3) They may exit the current environment and allow the user to move
to a totally new environment (Exit)
• These menus can also change content based upon the system state, or an
event, existing at that moment
 FUNCTIONS OF MENUS
• From the user’s perspective, a menu can be used to perform several
functions
to navigate to a new menu
to execute an action or procedure
to display information
to input data or parameters
 NAVIGATION TO A NEW MENU
• Each user selection causes another menu in a hierarchical menu tree
to be displayed
• The purpose of each selection is to steer (guide) the user toward an
objective or goal
 EXECUTE AN ACTION OR PROCEDURE
• A user selection directs the computer to implement an action or
perform a procedure
• The action may be something like opening or closing a file, copying
text, or sending a message
• In some cases, execution may only occur after a hierarchical menu
tree is navigated
• In other cases, actions may be performed as successive hierarchical
menus are encountered and traversed
 DISPLAYING INFORMATION
• The main purpose of selecting a menu choice may simply be to
display information
• The user may be searching for specific information in a database or
browsing the Web
• Wrong turns in the process will again cost time and perhaps
aggravation, but these errors are nondestructive and usually
undoable
 DATA OR PARAMETER INPUT
• Each selection specifies a piece of input data for the system or
provides a parameter value
• Data or values may be input on a single menu or spread over a
hierarchy of menus
 CONTENTS OF MENUS
• A menu consists of four elements
its context
its title
its choice descriptions
its completion instructions
• These concepts are introduced here and will be expanded in detailed
guidelines to follow
 MENU CONTEXT
• A menu’s context provides information to keep the user oriented
• This kind of information is critical in complex or hierarchical menu
systems, where loss of position or disorientation can easily occur
• Feedback is necessary that tells users
where they are in a process
what their past choices were
how much farther they still must navigate
• Verbal linkage, spatial linkage, or both may be used to provide
navigation feedback
• Verbal linkage involves providing, on the current menu screen, a listing
of choices made on previous menus that have led to this position
• Spatial linkage can be accomplished by graphic methods
 MENU TITLE
• A menu’s title provides the context for the current set of choices
• The title must reflect the choice selected on the previously displayed
menu
 CHOICE DESCRIPTIONS
• Choice descriptions are the alternatives available to the user
• These descriptions can range from a mnemonic, numeric, or
alphabetized listing of choices to single words or phrases to full
sentences or more
• The style chosen will reflect
the experience of the user (novice or expert),
the nature of the choices (well-learned alternatives or not),
the nature of the selection mechanism (keyboard or mouse), and
the nature of the system (business system application or Web page)
 COMPLETION INSTRUCTIONS
• Completion instructions tell users how to indicate their choices
• Explicit instructions may be needed for first time or casual users of a
system
• Experienced users will find overly verbose instructions unnecessary
• The needs of all system users, and the nature of the system, must
again be considered in creating this kind of on-screen guidance
FORMATTING OF MENUS
 PHRASING THE MENU

• A menu must communicate

to the user information
about:
The nature and purpose
of the menu itself
The nature and purpose
of each presented choice
How the proper choice
or choices may be
selected
• Writing the content of menu components, the menu’s title, the choice
descriptions, and instructions, is often made difficult because of the varying
experience levels of the menu users
• At one extreme, there is the desire to explain, on the screen, everything in
detail
• On the other hand, brevity (concise) is also important because of screen space
constraints and limits on what people want to read
• Following are guidelines for
creating menu titles
choice descriptions
Web navigation links
menu instructions
• The standard graphical system conventions
inscribed on the following are also described
menus
intent indicators
keyboard equivalents
keyboard accelerators
 SELECTING MENU CHOICES
• Menu items can be selected by the following ways
By pointing at the choice with a mechanical pointer
By pointing at the choice through the keyboard
By keying a value designating the choice
 NAVIGATING MENUS
• Navigation, and an efficient navigational structure, is the most
important element in system usability
• A simple and clear navigational structure is the backbone upon which
all system features are draped
• In Web site design, the most successful sites have been found to be
those with easy to use and understand navigational systems
• A system’s organizational structure and its navigational tools,
including elements such as menus, links, toolbars, and command
buttons influence the system’s navigational ease of use
 WEB SITE NAVIGATION PROBLEMS
• Technical issues
Graphical system application, whose screens tend to flow in an orderly and
predictable manner
Web-linked to any other page in the application
browser being used and that of the Web site being viewed
• Usage issues
The two most serious user problems in Web navigation are the heavy mental
loads imposed to use the Web and the feeling of spatial disorientation that
often occurs
 NAVIGATION GOALS
• A well-designed navigation system facilitates quick and easy
navigation between components whose structure and relationship
are easily comprehendible.
• For the user, answers to the following questions must be always
obvious during an interaction:
Where am I now?
Where did I come from?
Where can I go from here?
How can I get there quickly?
GENERAL SYSTEM NAVIGATION GUIDELINES
 WEB SITE NAVIGATION
• Understanding a Web site’s navigational scheme is made more
difficult because Web sites usually have much less perceived structure
than typical graphical system applications
• Web pages can be of any length and possess any number of links to
any number of other pages
• In designing a Web site navigation scheme there are two things to
always remember
• Never assume that users know as much about a site as the site
designers do and any page can be an entry point into the Web site
 COMPONENTS OF A WEB NAVIGATION
SYSTEM
• To move between Web site information fragments necessitates the
creation of navigation links.
• They are contained within a framework of tools or controls, including
the browser’s command buttons, textual phrases, Web site navigation
bars, and Web site command buttons.
• A link functions as a menu choice that, when selected, results in the
connected information being displayed, or results in a file being
opened or downloaded.
 OTHER WEB SITE NAVIGATION ELEMENTS
• In addition to Navigation bars, several other Web site elements are
also important components of the Web navigation system
• Among these are
• Overviews, including
Executive summaries
Site maps
Indexes
Tables of contents
• Other elements are historical trails and search engines
 WEB SITE NAVIGATION GUIDELINES
• Some questions should be answered while designing navigation
schemes for the website
How many links should exist on a page?
How should textual links be presented to make them obvious?
What kinds of links should be included on a page?
Some kinds of
links to avoid
• As sites are modified, internal links may have to be revised
• Carefully check sequential pages if Next and Previous links are used
within the site. External links should also be checked and corrected
frequently
• Due to the volatile nature of the Web, a linked site’s content may
change, its location may change, or a site may cease to exist
• The credibility of a site’s entire content suffers if it is not properly
maintained
 KINDS OF GRAPHICAL MENUS
• Providing the proper kinds of graphical menus to perform system
tasks is also critical to system success
• The best kind of menu to use in each situation depends on several
factors
• The following must be considered:
The number of items to be presented in the menu.
How often the menu is used.
How often the menu contents may change.
MENU BAR
PULL DOWN MENUS
 CASCADING MENUS
• A cascading menu is a submenu derived from a higher-level menu, most
typically a pull-down
• Cascading menus are located to the right of the menu item on the previous
menu to which they are related
• Menu items that lead to cascading menus are typically indicated by a right-
pointing triangle
• Cascading menus are developed to simplify menus by reducing the number
of choices that appear together on one menu
• Cascades can be used when many alternatives exist that can be grouped
meaningfully
• The top-level menu may contain the grouping category headings and the
cascaded menu the items in each group
• Advantages
The top-level menus are simplified because some choices are hidden
More first-letter mnemonics are available because menus possess fewer
alternatives
High-level command browsing is easier because subtopics are hidden
• Disadvantages
Access to submenu items requires more steps
Access to submenu items requires a change in pointer movement direction
Exhaustive browsing is more difficult; some alternatives remain hidden as
pulldowns become visible
 POP-UP MENUS
• Choices may also be presented to the user on the screen through
pop-up menus, vertically arrayed listings that only appear when
specifically requested
• Pop-up menus may be requested when the mouse pointer is
positioned over a designated or hot area of the screen (a window
border or text, for example) or over a designated icon
 TEAR-OFF MENUS
• A tear-off menu is a pull-down menu that can be positioned
anywhere on the screen for constant referral
• It possesses all the characteristics of a pull-down
• It may also be called a pushpin, detachable, or roll-up menu
• Its purpose is to present alternatives or choices to the screen user
that are needed infrequently at some times and heavily at other
times
• Advantages/disadvantages
No space is consumed on the screen when the menu is not needed
When needed, it can remain continuously displayed
It does require extra steps to retrieve, and it may obscure the screen working
area
 ICONIC MENUS

• An iconic menu is the portrayal of menu items or objects in a graphic or pictorial

form
• The purpose of an iconic menu is to remind users of the functions, commands,
attributes or application choices available
• Advantages/disadvantages
Pictures help facilitate memory of applications, and their larger size increases speed
of selection
Pictures do, however, consume considerably more screen space than text, and they
are difficult to organize for scanning efficiency
To create meaningful icons requires special skills and an extended amount of time
Iconic menus should be used to designate applications or special functions within an
application
Icons must be meaningful and clear. They should help enhance recognition and
hasten option selection
 PIE MENUS
• A pie menu is a circular representation of menu items that can be
used as an alternative to a pull-down or pop-up menu

• Performance advantages for keyboard selection are doubtful,

however
 DEFAULT MENU ITEMS
• Every system will provide a set of standard menu items
• Using the default items will reduce design time and encourage
interface consistency
• System learning time will also be reduced
• Microsoft Windows, for example, provides the following standard and
optional menu bar items and pull-down actions
• Always follow industry standards for naming, menu bar choices,
ordering, and keyboard equivalents and accelerators
• These standard menu items also have a prescribed order on the menu
bar: File, Edit, View, Window, and Help
• Items on their related pull-down menus also follow standard orders
• Standard menus and items should always be used when creating an
application
• Refer to a system’s design documentation for exact details concerning
what menu items are available and how they are used