Annoyed by Sticky Drop Down Menus? Find Out Why They're Not Going Away!

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Sticky drop-down menus are causing frustration for users, particularly in Firefox and Safari, as they often open unintentionally when navigating the screen. Many users find it tedious to dismiss these menus, especially when they obscure the editing field. Suggestions include making the menus activate only on click rather than hover, or increasing the hover time before activation. There is a notable generational divide in user interface preferences, with older users struggling more with the current design. Overall, there is a strong consensus that changes are needed to improve user experience and reduce irritation.
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The drop down menus ("My PF", "Inbox" etc.) are very irritating when the display is showing only the compose-a-reply editing field on the screen (in Firefox). Clicking on that part of the screen doesn't dismiss the drop down menus. ESC doesn't dismiss them. There is a thin bar at the bottom that you can click in and dismiss them, but that is tedious and the bar isn't always visible if the reply is lengthy.
 
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I'm seeing this behavior in Firefox and also an ancient Safari - "irritating" is a gentle and polite word to describe it. There's an area at the top of the page in which a click will dismiss the offending dialog, and life has gotten better since I found it.
 
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For me clicking inside the editor does not hide the popup but anywhere outside the editor works fine.
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
For me clicking inside the editor does not hide the popup but anywhere outside the editor works fine.

That's true for me. However, to write a reply (and see what I'm doing) the editor part of the window often fills the whole screen.
 
What about making the drop-down menus active only on click instead of on rollover? I also find them very irritating and in the way.
 
Hit the blank white space in the PF header --- big target.
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
Can you guys increase your screen resolution? :)

I can, but if that puts more of the page on the screen, I'll just have to increase size of the display to get stuff big enough to see well.

I have a theory that there is a generational divide in computer interface design. Young people can tolerate a crowded page with lots of small writing on it. Old guys need big type. I have a 21" monitor and I sit near it and yet I still need the message editor to nearly fill up the display in order to see what I'm doing.
 
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Amen Steven
Those (participle deleted)dropdowns are (participle deleted) annoying . I usually have a reference open in a separate tab and when mousing up to switch tabs the (participle deleted)dropdowns jump in front of me . It's hard on my blood pressure.

Old guys like me set our mouse speed sort of slow so we can find the doggone cursor .

PLEASE can we make those (participle deleted)dropdowns require a click to activate, or move them to a vertical row on left side, or make them have at least a 3/4 second dwell time?
 
  • #10
jim hardy said:
Amen Steven
Those (participle deleted)dropdowns are (participle deleted) annoying . I usually have a reference open in a separate tab and when mousing up to switch tabs the (participle deleted)dropdowns jump in front of me . It's hard on my blood pressure.

Old guys like me set our mouse speed sort of slow so we can find the doggone cursor .

PLEASE can we make those (participle deleted) dropdowns require a click to activate

Amen to that!
 
  • #11
LCKurtz said:
Amen to that!
I agree that would be preferable to them opening when you accidentally move your mouse over them and then they won't close until you go out of your way to do so. Greg, please, I know you've been asked to stop these from opening and not closing before and you seemed to think it was a good thing, I don't remember why. It's really irritating and serves no purpose but to aggravate members. Don't hate me, but it's really irritating. If I want to open a drop down, I will do so.
 
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  • #12
I agree -- if you hover over it let it display, but once you hover out of any space it displayed, make it disappear.
 
  • #13
I'm trying to understand the difficulty. I have made a video showing for me at least that it's a quick and easy functionality. Is this not how it's working for everyone else?

 
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  • #14
No, the drop downs open without clicking on them and they will not close until you close them.
 
  • #15
Evo said:
No, the drop downs open without clicking on them.
Watching my video, how does that improve my efficiency?
 
  • #16
Greg Bernhardt said:
Watching my video, how does that improve my efficiency?
If you do not want the drop down to open, and you have to go out of your way to close them, then a second later another or same box opens without you opening it, and you have to stop and close it and it keeps happening again and again, why would that be a good thing?

In the video, you are intentionally opening the boxes, we're talking about them opening without us clicking on them. Can you disable that feature? If you could fix it so that the drop downs only open if they are clicked on, that would be perfect!
 
  • #17
Evo said:
If you do not want the drop down to open, and you have to go out of your way to close them, then a second later another or same box opens without you opening it, and you have to stop and close it and it keeps happening again and again, why would that be a good thing?
If you don't want a menu opening, don't hover your cursor over the navigation. Right? How does a box open without you opening it?
 
  • #18
Greg Bernhardt said:
If you don't want a menu opening, don't hover your cursor over the navigation. Right? How does a box open without you opening it?
If you move your cursor over it, it opens and won't close. It only takes a fraction of a second for it to open. Maybe you can either require a click or to hover for 2 seconds. Make sure that people actually want it to open.
 
  • #19
Evo said:
If you move your cursor over it, it opens and won't close. It only takes a fraction of a second for it to open. Maybe you can either require a click or to hover for 2 seconds. Make sure that people actually want it to open.
For me personally that is just too slow and unresponsive. There is about a half second window where you can pass without activating a window. As you can see in this video I have no trouble. I can imagine this is what should happen if you pass through the navigation trying to access a browser tab.

 
  • #20
:oldcry: It drives me crazy. I'm having to stop and close these all day every day, and it seems others are having the same problem. Maybe post a poll to see how bad it is?
 
  • #21
On my laptop (chrome, windows 8.1), menus don't even open automatically. I have to click on them to open them. (Not really an issue for me)
On my desktop (chrome, windows 7), menus function the same way they do in your video, Greg.
Occasionally I have trouble getting a menu to close on my laptop, but not usually.
 
  • #22
Thank you, Evo.

Greg - Your video shows how they open and close, indeed.

Your video doesn't show the tabs at top of screen.
I frequently mouse up there to for checking a reference I'm quoting or trying to understand.. and cross the buttons en route, activating them .
Do another video this time running your mouse up to that "Bandit" logo as if you want to see something inside it. Those dropdowns are like an annoying housecat that plops right on the page you are trying to read. I have actually screamed at them.

It's almost as annoying as microsoft's "select" leaping clear to the end of a sentence instead of stopping where i stop the cursor, or the drivers side window going all the way down by itself instead of stopping when i release the button. How dare software presume to it tell me what i want .

7, Firefox
 
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  • #23
Evo said:
Maybe post a poll to see how bad it is?

For me it's extremely frustrating.
Being an old guy i had to set my mouse speed on the slow side else it's uncontrollable.
I notice my kids all have theirs a lot faster, and judging from the video i suspect you have more nimble hands than i.

Given how many PF members seem to have decades of experience i suspect I'm not unique.
 
  • #24
jim hardy said:
Your video doesn't show the tabs at top of screen.
My second video shows that you can pass through the navigation without opening a menu.
 
  • #25
Greg Bernhardt said:
My second video shows that you can pass through the navigation without opening a menu.

my bad i didnt notice there was a second video.

Have you lengthened hover time to actuate?
If so, thanks.
Lengthen it by half again and see if people complain ? It's still a bit short for me, goes off when passing through.
 
  • #26
Seems better now. Whatever you did, thanks ...
 
  • #27
Tried again - definitely better for my tired old hands. If it's not too slow for other folks, maybe i can speak for several of us - thank you again. Really.
 
  • #28
Honestly I didn't change anything, but I am glad it's working better :smile:

What screen resolution are you at and do you have an increased zoom level?
 
  • #29
Greg Bernhardt said:
What screen resolution are you at and do you have an increased zoom level?
not zoomed, don't know how to find out resolution.

something has changed somewhere. Machines sense frustration and stress...
 
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  • #30
Evo said:
:oldcry: It drives me crazy.
Still driving me crazy. :headbang:
 
  • #31
my machine is nuts .

I have to shut down and restsrt browser to make a post, it ignores preview and post. it's not new.

before Microsoft computers were frustrating but at least consistent
 
  • #32
Still the same for me, I just had to close a pop up that I was passing over and I've only been logged on 5 minutes. :cry: I'll just try to stop navigating through that area when I need to get to something above them. Obviously I don't move my cursor fast enough.
 
  • #33
Aha, I've discovered what causes the problem the most, when I want to refresh the homepage to check for new posts, I click on "Physics Forums" top left, then my cursor wanders over and usually hits "MY PF" and the drop down opens, and then I have to close it, as I refresh constantly during the day, I constantly get the drop down. :frown:
 
  • #34
I usually have several tabs open in my browser (Firefox, Mac OS). When I want to switch to something else after browsing PF for a while, I roll the mouse up to the top of the window to click on a different tab. If I pass over the PF menu bar along the way, a menu drops down and I have to stop and click somewhere on the page to dismiss it.

Similarly, I often accidentally get a sub-forum menu when I mouse over one of the folder icons on the home page on my way to somewhere else on the page.

It feels a bit like an obstacle course for my mouse. o0)
 
  • #35
jtbell said:
It feels a bit like an obstacle course for my mouse. o0)
You got that right. I have an extra mouse for back-up, as the left button on my current one is getting loose from not successfully making it through the course. :oldwink:
 
  • #36
jim hardy said:
don't know how to find out resolution.
Right click on the desktop, Jim... if you have open windows, minimize them... you should see:

Screen resolution.JPG


​
 
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  • #37
Click "Screen resolution", and you will get something like this, probably with only one monitor, though...

Screen resolution(1).JPG
 
  • #38
Thanks ocr
1366 X 768

been testing those buttons. Seems so long as mouse is moving, however slowly, they don't actuate. But stopping for just an instant triggers them.
With this laptop touch pad , how smooth is the mouse motion depends on how dried out are my fingertips.
Right now I've been working with solvent so my fingertips are dried out and lightly epoxied. They slide quite smoothly.
So i can move the mouse with good control.
When they're not so frictionless they skip rather than slide
Early this morning i could feel my fingertips skipping across the pad instead of sliding, probably making brief stops between skips..
And the buttons were aggravating.
I think that's why i assumed Greg had changed something. Instead it was my fingertips that changed.

It shouldn't require a 'Suzanne Farrel' level of grace to navigate past those buttons. What algorithm decides when to open them? I think it needs longer "stopped" time.

Will fire up the desktop and try that optical mouse.don - I once bought from a thrift shop a big paper grocery bag full of mice, for a dollar. Must've been fifty of them in there.
When Windows got too much i'd just smash one.
 
  • #39
jim hardy said:
don - I once bought from a thrift shop a big paper grocery bag full of mice, for a dollar. Must've been fifty of them in there.
When Windows got too much i'd just smash one.
OMG...he was killing poor little mice! Then I realized they were not living mice. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #40
jim hardy said:
don - I once bought from a thrift shop a big paper grocery bag full of mice, for a dollar. Must've been fifty of them in there.
When Windows got too much i'd just smash one.
Perfectly understanding. I'm just hoping, for me, that it doesn't escalate to display smashing.

Save my monitor Greg. :angel:
 
  • #41
Evo said:
OMG...he was killing poor little mice! Then I realized they were not living mice. :rolleyes:

If you swing them by the cord over your head like an axe, they shatter against the floor and parts fly .
I hung them on the cubicle wall , grouped by the triggering program.

Microsoft Word was far and away responsible for the most mousicides -
have they yet made their control characters visible like WordPerfect?

WYSIWhat you can only wish You'dGet

Back on topic - I've had maybe ten inadvertent dropdowns this hour. Getting used to them.
But - search on "danger of repressed rage"
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/03/u...-dangers-of-repressing-emotional-turmoil.html
''Repressers tend to be rational and in control of their emotions,'' Dr. Weinberger said. ''They see themselves as people who don't get upset about things, who are cool and collected under stress. You see it in the competent surgeon or lawyer who values not letting his emotions shade his judgment.''

The represser's calm is bought at a great price. Recent reports have linked a repressing personality to a higher risk for asthma, high blood pressure and overall ill health.
ignoring buttons again, got to close and reopen browser to preview or post.
 
  • #42
jim hardy said:
Back on topic - I've had maybe ten inadvertent dropdowns this hour. Getting used to them.
I'm still confused how this is happening because if you keep the mouse moving through the navigation, the menus won't trigger.
 
  • #43
Greg Bernhardt said:
I'm still confused how this is happening because if you keep the mouse moving through the navigation, the menus won't trigger.
If you keep moving fast, they won't open, if you move them slowly they will open because it considers it a hover.
 
  • #44
Greg Bernhardt said:
From my experience and as shown in my video below it doesn't need to be fast. It just needs to be moving. The second the cursor stops it will trigger the menu.

Wish I could show you a video of me moving the cursor, it doesn't stop, but the drop downs open. My cursor is moving slowly because I have my hand on my mouse and it's just slowly drifting.
 
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  • #45
Evo said:
If you keep moving fast, they won't open, if you move them slowly they will open because it considers it a hover.
From my experience and as shown in my video below it doesn't need to be fast. It just needs to be moving. The second the cursor stops it will trigger the menu.

 
  • #46
Evo said:
Wish I could show you a video of me moving the cursor, it doesn't stop, but the drop downs open. My cursor is moving slowly because I have my hand on my mouse and it's just slowly drifting.
Are you using IE?
 
  • #47
The cursor doesn't stop, maybe slight jerkiness of the move registers a stop? I've just decided to make sure my cursor is never near the area now unless I mean to open something.

I'm using Chrome.
 
  • #48
Greg Bernhardt said:
The second the cursor stops it will trigger the menu.
there's the trouble.

What is the graininess of cursor position? How is motion detected ?
Make it a whole second maybe even 3/4 and i'll bet complaints disappear.
 
  • #49
jim hardy said:
there's the trouble.
Watch my video above. Just don't stop the cursor. Passing through the navigation shouldn't be a problem as my videos show.
 
  • #50
greg you have how many people telling you it's a problem ?

take off your IT hat for a shift
 

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