Organization of broad computer menu displays

Abstract

Sixty students performed simple menu selection with one of ten menus; each with 64 items arranged in four columns of 16 on a single frame. Target words consisted of eight items from each of eight categories. In eight categorized menus, words belonging to the same category were presented together in the display. Three factors were varied in the categorized menus: alphabetical vs categorial ordering of words within categories; spacing vs no additional spacing between category groups; and category organization arranged by column or by row. In the final two menus the entire array was arranged in alphabetical order, top-to-bottom by column in one, and left-to-right by row in the other. Both spacing and columnar organization facilitated search time. Menus with spacings between category groups were searched approximately 1 s faster than menus without additional spacing and menus with categories organized by column were searched about 1 s faster than menus organized by row. Furthermore, the effects of spacing and organization were additive. Given categorized menus, no difference in search time was observed for categorial vs alphabetical ordering within categories. Menus in which the entire array was arranged in alphabetical order were searched with rates similar to those for categorized menus with spacings and faster than categorized menus without spacings; these effects were observed with both forms of organization, row and column. Explanations were offered for the results and their implications for menu design were discussed.