4 ms·

Stop Using ‘Drop-Down’

23 points by diablo1 7y ago

timw4mail 7y ago
`Drop-down` is imprecise, especially considering the difference between a navigation menu that drops down, compared with a a list of pre-set options. There might be a few too many examples on this page, though.
culopatin 7y ago
Does anyone else see a trend in recent times of posts that start with “Its time to start X/ Stop using X” instead of saying “I think there is some work to be done about X” or “IMO Y is better than X”. Then turns out you read the thing and they have nothing to sustain that title.
wilg 7y ago
Well this seems like something that isn't worth worrying about.
libraryatnight 7y ago
I've never been confused by "drop-down" I was confused by this post, though.
byteknight 7y ago
No
butlertronica 7y ago
I have no idea what this is about - would it really be such a stretch to add examples of the controls he is on about?
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  The silliness of this article's premise is that we still need a bestiary of drop-downs. As if the process wasn't complex enough. Just call it a drop-down and iterate the design.
happytoexplain 7y ago
This is nuts. Please don't encourage people to stop using such a tried-and-tested, well understood, descriptive word. Talking about UI/UX is hard enough without taking that away. What the author is actually criticizing is a lack of detail regarding UX and implementation in feature descriptions.
SavageBeast 7y ago
Thing is my customer, Bob From Marketing, wants a new feature. He knows "Text Input","Drop Down","Form","Button", "Checkbox" as terms to communicate his feature to me. He knows this because he used to code some Visual Basic on the side when he was "still a programmer" all those years ago. Now in reality, I don't take any thing Bob tells me literally as directions. I treat it more as a description of Bobs problem. I then forget everything he told me he wanted and build the tool necessary to do the job he's described. "drop-down" works just fine thank you. It's adequately descriptive to support its most common application - which is communicating with non-technical people. But what about communicating with a technical person? Well, they're going to do what they want to/the sensible thing anyhow no matter what I call it.
Avery3R 7y ago
This post reads like it was written by a web developer that doesn't realize UI development happens on any other platform.
OJFord 7y ago
People probably did call it 'a select', until non-technical users called it 'a drop-down' (because that's what it does, without knowing what the code looks like, why would you call it 'select'?) and the term came to dominate. I don't think it's confusing, if anything it's used precisely so we aren't confused... like by the myriad options presented in this post when all we really meant was 'any old thing that drops down and a user will call a drop-down'.
janci 7y ago
For me, select box is a control with predefined list of options that can be shown and hidden in window-blinds style. Combo box is the same, but new entry can be added by directly typing in the box. They look the same but have different behavior. Dropdown is any of those and thus defines only the visual aspect, not the behavior.
darkstar999 7y ago
Stop using "stop using" blog posts.
- acheron 7y ago
  "Stop using" blog posts considered harmful.
nkrisc 7y ago
I use the word "dropdown" because it's the word that the non-technical people I work with use. They're not thinking in terms of HTML elements. If they ask me for a "dropdown" and I ask them if they "mean a <select> or a <datalist>?" they're going to think I'm just a pompous asshole. I click it and it drops down. Ergo "dropdown." For better or worse, that's what it's called now.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  > They're not thinking in terms of HTML elements. That makes sense, as the term originated with UI development that predates HTML. It's a fairly precise term (although there are variations on dropdown styles, they're all unambiguously dropdowns). There's nothing wrong (and a lot right) with using the term if you're not talking specifically (or knowledgeable) about web interfaces. Even when used in relation to web interfaces, the meaning remains clear, even if the technical HTML terms differ.
  - nkrisc 7y ago
    > That makes sense, as the term originated with UI development that predates HTML. Yes, but this post is focused on HTML which is why I phrased it in terms of HTML. The term "dropdown" is often used to describe a desired out come (a method of interaction in order to make a selection) and is often meant independently of the actual implementation, as browser, for example, will implement the control differently based on platform.
cameronfraser 7y ago
Dropdown is a perfectly fine term to use. Developers should be able to infer what is actually meant by additional requirements.

23 points by diablo1 7y ago

`Drop-down` is imprecise, especially considering the difference between a navigation menu that drops down, compared with a a list of pre-set options. There might be a few too many examples on this page, though.

culopatin 7y ago

Does anyone else see a trend in recent times of posts that start with “Its time to start X/ Stop using X” instead of saying “I think there is some work to be done about X” or “IMO Y is better than X”. Then turns out you read the thing and they have nothing to sustain that title.

wilg 7y ago

Well this seems like something that isn't worth worrying about.

libraryatnight 7y ago

I've never been confused by "drop-down" I was confused by this post, though.

byteknight 7y ago

butlertronica 7y ago

I have no idea what this is about - would it really be such a stretch to add examples of the controls he is on about?

ASalazarMX 7y ago
The silliness of this article's premise is that we still need a bestiary of drop-downs. As if the process wasn't complex enough. Just call it a drop-down and iterate the design.

happytoexplain 7y ago

This is nuts. Please don't encourage people to stop using such a tried-and-tested, well understood, descriptive word. Talking about UI/UX is hard enough without taking that away. What the author is actually criticizing is a lack of detail regarding UX and implementation in feature descriptions.

SavageBeast 7y ago

Thing is my customer, Bob From Marketing, wants a new feature. He knows "Text Input","Drop Down","Form","Button", "Checkbox" as terms to communicate his feature to me. He knows this because he used to code some Visual Basic on the side when he was "still a programmer" all those years ago. Now in reality, I don't take any thing Bob tells me literally as directions. I treat it more as a description of Bobs problem. I then forget everything he told me he wanted and build the tool necessary to do the job he's described. "drop-down" works just fine thank you. It's adequately descriptive to support its most common application - which is communicating with non-technical people. But what about communicating with a technical person? Well, they're going to do what they want to/the sensible thing anyhow no matter what I call it.

Avery3R 7y ago

This post reads like it was written by a web developer that doesn't realize UI development happens on any other platform.

OJFord 7y ago

People probably did call it 'a select', until non-technical users called it 'a drop-down' (because that's what it does, without knowing what the code looks like, why would you call it 'select'?) and the term came to dominate. I don't think it's confusing, if anything it's used precisely so we aren't confused... like by the myriad options presented in this post when all we really meant was 'any old thing that drops down and a user will call a drop-down'.

janci 7y ago

For me, select box is a control with predefined list of options that can be shown and hidden in window-blinds style. Combo box is the same, but new entry can be added by directly typing in the box. They look the same but have different behavior. Dropdown is any of those and thus defines only the visual aspect, not the behavior.

darkstar999 7y ago

Stop using "stop using" blog posts.

acheron 7y ago
"Stop using" blog posts considered harmful.

nkrisc 7y ago

I use the word "dropdown" because it's the word that the non-technical people I work with use. They're not thinking in terms of HTML elements. If they ask me for a "dropdown" and I ask them if they "mean a <select> or a <datalist>?" they're going to think I'm just a pompous asshole. I click it and it drops down. Ergo "dropdown." For better or worse, that's what it's called now.

JohnFen 7y ago
> They're not thinking in terms of HTML elements. That makes sense, as the term originated with UI development that predates HTML. It's a fairly precise term (although there are variations on dropdown styles, they're all unambiguously dropdowns). There's nothing wrong (and a lot right) with using the term if you're not talking specifically (or knowledgeable) about web interfaces. Even when used in relation to web interfaces, the meaning remains clear, even if the technical HTML terms differ.
- nkrisc 7y ago
  > That makes sense, as the term originated with UI development that predates HTML. Yes, but this post is focused on HTML which is why I phrased it in terms of HTML. The term "dropdown" is often used to describe a desired out come (a method of interaction in order to make a selection) and is often meant independently of the actual implementation, as browser, for example, will implement the control differently based on platform.

cameronfraser 7y ago

Dropdown is a perfectly fine term to use. Developers should be able to infer what is actually meant by additional requirements.