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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephen Tashi
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
71 replies · 8K views
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
 
Physics news on Phys.org
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.
 
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:
 
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)
 
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:
 
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


​
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Greg Bernhardt
Click "Screen resolution", and you will get something like this, probably with only one monitor, though...

Screen resolution(1).JPG
 
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.
 
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:
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim hardy
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:
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Last edited:
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.

 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
greg you have how many people telling you it's a problem ?

take off your IT hat for a shift
 
jim hardy said:
greg you have how many people telling you it's a problem ?
I've tried with IE11, FF, and Chrome using your screen resolution and was able to pass through navigation without problem while moving the cursor slowly.

I will continue to consider your request, but to be honest, I like the responsiveness. Makes my functioning and moving around much quicker.
 
jim hardy said:
greg you have how many people telling you it's a problem ?
Evidently not enough. I think it's poll time.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Evo and jim hardy
All with the oldies: I "work" on two 24" screens and am so long winded I have to scroll up and down the editor almost all the time. A lot of juggling to use buttons at top and at bottom. And the mouse wheel grabing the wrong scrollbar is understandable. The (...) stickiness isn't. Most software let's the rolled down menus disappear when you move out.

--
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim hardy
They're still really frustrating when trying to make or edit a sizeable post, screen just isn't tall enough and 'my pf' has a hair trigger.

How about a button in upper left that toggles them off/on ?
 
jim hardy said:
They're still really frustrating when trying to make or edit a sizeable post, screen just isn't tall enough and 'my pf' has a hair trigger.

How about a button in upper left that toggles them off/on ?
*Secretly high fives Jim for bringing it up again*
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: dlgoff, BvU and jim hardy
Evo said:
*Secretly high fives Jim for bringing it up again*
Secretly seconding (or thirsting...) :smile:
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim hardy and Evo
I hate mouse over drop downs. Especially the sticky ones.

I use Fire Fox with NoScript. By forbidding scripts for physicsforums.com while reading posts offline, I have no problems with the menu drop downs. However, when I want to post, I do need to enable physicsforums.com and physicsforums-bernhardtmediall.netdan-ssl.com to get better functionality. This works out great for me since I do not do a lot of posting. The forum works quite well without scripts, if all you want to do is read. Images, videos and emoticons still work.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: BvU and jim hardy
Nice that turtle digs under the hood! Must be Greg has a really slow XT286 in posts #49 and #51

Mine is real fast and the menus only pull up if I click (sic!) in this not-so-wide band where my pf & co reside...

[edit] correction: onder some unspecified conditions only! After posting this one, clicking to make disappear can be in the remainder of the window, too ...o_O
 
... but, what's really annoying? Spending however long with "Q-Search toilet paper" stuck to the right margin scroll browsing, and when you want "Forums" to pop-up and stick? "Sticky" gets bashful/coy and hesitates --- looks like the connection's lost.
 
I use the hover-over feature on the first post preview in the discussion list a lot and today was the first time that the LaTeX equation images appeared, albeit it took a little time, which I assume is because of the MathJax server. Has this always been an available feature or have I just not waited long enough? And I was also wondering if the hover time causing this "Stickyness" thread has any part in the LaTeX rendering? I do like that part of hovering. +1
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Greg Bernhardt