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Auto Collapsing Tree Menus versus Non-Auto Collapsing Tree Menus
 

Do your visitors browse your web site or are your visitors comparing two (2) web pages?

Auto-Collapsing Tree Menus are great for browsing.

Non-Auto Collapsing Tree Menus are good for comparing two web pages

Since most users are in the browse and search mode to begin with, it would be wise to use an auto collapsing menu versus a non-collapsing tree menu.
  1. No logging of a users clicks when expanding or collapsing, so one doesn't know what visitors are browsing for; thus, this would make it very difficult for usability and marketing research.



  2. Users still have to eventually collapse the menus anyway when browsing as it get too long vertically.



  3. The main part of the web page should already be anticipating what the visitor wants in the first place, thereby minimizing the need for visitors fumbling and getting lost though a menu system.



  4. PERFORMANCE CATCH 22: As a web site gets bigger and bigger, the initial loading of the website's entire menu navigation system becomes longer and longer. Moreover, visitors will be loading the entire menu of the website when they typically only visit a handful of web pages anyway. While one might say that a tree menu system that only loads on the initial user visit is good since it only loads once, it could be loading a menu system for a several hundred page web site when the majority of users are only visiting a handful pages or even a single page just to check on something. Most users do not visit every single page of a web site nor have enough time in the day to do that anyway.



  5. Even if a visitor has two menu nodes expanded, visitors typically still have to scroll up and down to see one menu or the other if it gets too long which is usually the case.



  6. The embedded bread crumbs can now start to get confusing if a visitor thinks that one menu node is expanded while actually being in another node than is at the bottom of the page. Auto collapsing/expanding menus don't have this problem and visitor always know where they are.



  7. If a visitor has to have two menu nodes open at the same time for the main navigation system, it may mean the visitor is confused at the current menu node names and has to dig deeper two see what's underneath when the names to the node should have been clear to begin with.



  8. If a visitor needs to due a comparison between to web page that are located in two different nodes, he/she should simply open two browser windows via a simple SHIFT-LEFT MOUSE CLICK on the second link URL in question.



  9. Lots of cross browser issues, with past and future browsers.


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