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Mega drop down menus navigate well
Design usability Jakob Nielsen has spoken about drop down menus and concludes: "Big, two-dimensional drop-down panels group navigation options to eliminate scrolling and use typography, icons, and tooltips to explain the user's choices."
We have suspected this ever since John Lewis put them on its website.
Per Nielsen's study, mega drop-downs have the following characteristics:
* Big, two-dimensional panels divided into groups of navigation options
* Navigation choices structured through layout, typography, and (sometimes) icons
* Everything visible at once — no scrolling
* Vertical or horizontal form factors when activated from top navigation bars; when activated from left-hand navigation, they might appear as mega fly-outs (not shown).
Regular dropdowns can conceal some of the user options & they don't offer grouping. Big tip, though - make them fast!
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