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Here's a quick one (of many). In every dropdown menu you've ever used, the currently selected item pops up in the center of the control. The other items are ar
by pkamb 7y ago
Here's a quick one (of many).
In every dropdown menu you've ever used, the currently selected item pops up in the center of the control. The other items are arranged above and below the currently selected item.
https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png
Craigslist's view selector instead lays out the items below the control. "List" is always placed within the control, despite not being active. To select "List" you need to click what should be the currently selected item.
https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png
Completely unnatural experience and still trips me up every time I use it.
- happytoexplain 7y agoThis is subjective, and also wrong. It's wrong because I use dropdowns all the time that always extend the entire list downward. I just double checked gmail and feedly for my own sanity. It's subjective because there is an advantage to static positioning: it allows the mind to develop a map of where each item is in non-relativistic terms, so selecting a given value is always the same two clicks.
- pkamb 7y agoFeedly and Gmail drop the entire menu down below the control. You're right, those kind of custom menus work fine. Note that the currently selected item is still always shown within the custom control. https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png Craigslist positions the first item of the static list within the control, forcing you to awkwardly select the control itself to select the first item. I have to think about it literally every time I use that drop down. https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png