Split menus: Effectively using selection frequency to organize menus
Split menus: Effectively using selection frequency to organize menus
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Date
1998-10-15
Authors
Sears, Andrew
Shneiderman, Ben
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Abstract
When some items in a menu are selected more frequently than others, as
is often the case, designers or individual users may be able to speed
performance and improve satisfaction by placing several high-frequency
items at the top of the menu. Design guidelines for split menus were
developed and applied. Split menus were implemented and tested in two
field studies and a controlled experiment. In the field study conditions
performance times were reduced from 17 or 58% depending on the site and
menus. In the controlled experiment split menus were significantly faster
than alphabetic menus and yielded significantly higher subjective
preferences. A possible resolution to the continuing debate among
cognitive theorists about predicting menu selection times is offered. We
conjecture and offer evidence that the logarithmic model applies to
familiar (high-frequency) items and the linear model applies to unfamiliar
(low-frequency) items.
(Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-649)
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, vol. 1, #1 (March
1994) 27-51 %I Human Computer Interaction Laboratory