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Re: accessibility of this drop down menu

for

From: Moore,Michael (DARS)
Date: May 6, 2010 8:24AM

Geof wrote

"Perhaps someone can help me. I've read that drop down menus present a
problem to certain disabilities such as shaky hands, if this is true
then why are so many so keen to use drop down menus? "


[Mike's Comments] The most vocal opposition to the drop down/fly out menus that we encounter is from folks who use screen magnifiers. It is extremely easy when using a screen magnifier to accidently trigger the menu to open and then you have to get below it to get it to close again.

As to the reasons that drop down menus are so popular, I think that it usually comes down to a belief that having a very large number of links in the menu improves usability of the site. Personally, I think that drop down menus are a poor substitute for good information architecture in a well organized site coupled with a good site search feature. For the record I usually lose arguments where I advocate against drop down navigation.

Mike