Chris Kennon wrote:
I've adopted the philosophy, drop down menus are a surrogate for detailed Information Architecture. Sub-navigation should be introduced on internal pages to navigate sub-sections.
Agreed under the assumption that you're not referring to navigating by select box. I only say that because I had a 10 minute debate with someone who was referring to drop-downs when they meant <select>. :|
Menus with drop down features are my idea of hyperhell and the majority of implementations are hyperdeath for screenreaders. IMO, they are often used instead of good contextual links, calls to action and invitations to action within the content proper which deliver much better usability. FWIW I think contextual links are also more 'natural' in the sense that in most cases, links from the actual content are an organic drill-down/across/up and allow users to make a series of logical steps towrds their goals. Too often I've been interested in something mentioned in the content of page but then being _forced_ to use a master drop down menu to find related information becuse there was no link from the content to quickly drill to it.
Jon Tan www.gr0w.com ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
