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Inuser interface design, amenu is a list ofoptions presented to theuser.
A user chooses an option from a menu by using aninput device. Some input methods require linear navigation: the user must move a cursor or otherwise pass from one menu item to another until reaching the selection. On acomputer terminal, areverse video bar may serve as the cursor.
Touch user interfaces and menus that accept codes to select menu options without navigation are two examples of non-linear interfaces.
Some of the input devices used in menu interfaces aretouchscreens,keyboards,mice,remote controls, and microphones. In a voice-activated system, such asinteractive voice response, a microphone sends a recording of the user's voice to aspeech recognition system, which translates it to a command.
A computer using acommand line interface may present a list of relevant commands with assigned short-cuts (digits, numbers or characters) on the screen. Entering the appropriate short-cut selects a menu item. A more sophisticated solution offers navigation using the cursor keys or the mouse (even in two dimensions; then the menu items appear or disappear similarly to the menus common in GUIs). The current selection is highlighted and can be activated by pressing the enter key.
A computer using agraphical user interface presents menus with a combination oftext andsymbols to represent choices. Byclicking on one of the symbols or text, the operator is selecting the instruction that the symbol represents. Acontext menu is a menu in which the choices presented to the operator are automatically modified according to the current context in which the operator is working.
A common use of menus is to provide convenient access to various operations such as saving or opening afile, quitting aprogram, or manipulating data. Mostwidget toolkits provide some form of pull-down orpop-up menu. Pull-down menus are the type commonly used inmenu bars (usually near the top of awindow or screen), which are most often used for performing actions, whereas pop-up (or "fly-out") menus are more likely to be used for setting a value, and might appear anywhere in a window.
According to traditionalhuman interface guidelines, menu names were always supposed to beverbs, such as "file", "edit" and so on.[1] This has been largely ignored in subsequent user interface developments. A single-word verb however is sometimes unclear, and so as to allow for multiple word menu names, the idea of a vertical menu was invented, as seen inNeXTSTEP.
Menus are now also seen inconsumer electronics, starting withTV sets andVCRs that gainedon-screen displays in the early 1990s, and extending intocomputer monitors andDVD players. Menus allow the control of settings liketint,brightness,contrast,bass andtreble, and other functions such aschannel memory andclosed captioning. Other electronics withtext-only displays can also have menus, anything frombusiness telephone systems with digital telephones, toweather radios that can be set to respond only to specificweather warnings in a specific area. Other more recent electronics in the 2000s also have menus, such asdigital media players.
Menus are sometimes hierarchically organized, allowing navigation through different levels of the menu structure. Selecting a menu entry with an arrow will expand it, showing a second menu (the submenu) with options related to the selected entry.
Usability of submenus has been criticized as difficult, because of the narrow height that must be crossed by thepointer. Thesteering law predicts that this movement will be slow, and any error in touching the boundaries of the parent menu entry will hide the submenu. Some techniques proposed to alleviate these errors are keeping the submenu open while moving the pointer in diagonal, and usingmega menus designed to enhance scannability and categorization of its contents.[2][3] Negativeuser experience with submenus is referred to as "menu diving".[4]
In computer menu functions orbuttons, an appendedellipsis ("…") means that upon selection, another dialog will follow, where the user can or must make a choice.[5] If the ellipsis is missing, the function will be executed upon selection.
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Displays with touchscreen functionality, e.g. modern cameras and printers, also have menus: these are not drop-down menus but buttons.
