Not planned Quick Links... why?

[digitalpoint]

Let me preface this by saying that I already know I'm the world's most anal human being, so no need to point that out...

In the navigation bar, some of the tabs give a pop-up menu (for example Members). What is the purpose of the "Quick Links" label in there? What makes those links quick exactly? Or more importantly, do you really think someone would open that menu and not see the label letting them know there are links in it and be like, "Damn, I wish I could click on these menu items, but I guess they aren't links..."

To *me* it seems like something left over from 10 years ago when DHTML was a novel new thing. Back then they were "quick" because, wow... you could get a menu quickly without needing to go to a table of contents page. But today, I'd say users are past needing a link on a menu labeled as a link.

I would even argue that the "Members" label within the menu should be removed... I just clicked (or hovered) over the Members link, isn't it kind of redundant that this is a members menu? The title in the menu itself would be more appropriate if it was just an icon you were clicking.

In the end, does putting a menu title of "Members" and "Quick Links" make the user experience better for users, or is it there for no purpose other than to just have it there?

Removing both items just looks better/less cluttered in my opinion...

 

[Digital Doctor]

OMG. Good pickup. I rarely use the "hover" dropdowns.
The Title for an already titled Tab = clutter.
The word quick links = clutter.

Looks great.

 

[Morgain]

I already thought this but I thought I was being my usual crazy catlady fuss fuss.
So I said nothing.
Glad to see important respectable people think so too

 

[digitalpoint]

Glad to see important respectable people think so too

I'm not important or respectable (well unless you ask my mom... she thinks I am).

Coincidentally, it's probably her to blame for me being one of the world's most anal human beings.

 

[Fuhrmann]

That's a good point to discuss.

 

[Morgain]

The state of my anus right now is .... too much information
<---- earthy lady.

Digitalpoint cut the modesty. You outrank me - here - your status says so under your avatar. Plus you run a huge, well known board, which is useful to so many admins internationally. I am a small country mouse admin by comparison. I am happy with that - so you just be a good boy now - sit down drink your milk and enjoy your high status! You hear me?

(Might be a country mouse admin but I'm also heap big matriarch lady boss!)

 

[digitalpoint]

I don't really like milk.

 

[Kevin]

I already thought this but I thought I was being my usual crazy catlady fuss fuss.
So I said nothing.

You should always speak up! Others may not agree with you at times but it is often the case that if you've noticed something then the odds are that others have as well.

Besides, if nothing else, hearing from the 'crazy catlady' folks is good because often little things like this are missed by folks who play with software every day; the 'not seeing the forest for the trees' syndrome.

 

[Morgain]

You should always speak up! Others may not agree with you at times but it is often the case that if you've noticed something then the odds are that others have as well.

Besides, if nothing else, hearing from the 'crazy catlady' folks is good because often little things like this are missed by folks who play with software every day; the 'not seeing the forest for the trees' syndrome.

With respect Kevin I thank you for the friendly encouragement but it depends on who is speaking up.
You see I am VERY observant and very perfectionist. Any coder who works with me knows this!

As a result I already post in a lot of observations. I deliberately ration them saving some for later, choosing what I think are priority items for now. If I did not do that I assure you you'd get sick of seeing that cute kitten avatar and start wanting to thump it! Also it would be too much criticism too fast for the developers and they deserve to pace it, getting praise for their genius and enjoying it without drowning in a flood of fussy no no do it different. I feel protective of them and protective ofr my community impact generally.

For many others your advice is perfect. Many people don't speak up nearly enough.
But I think the number of my posts a week is plenty. I do not want to trigger "oh no not HER again!" That dilutes the effectiveness of my voice anyway.

But as you see from my signature I value "speaking up" enormously.

 

[digitalpoint]

Well hopefully Mike and Kier don't mind the nitpicking little things like this. Even if this isn't something that is made part of XF natively, it's easy enough to edit out of the template or just hide with CSS. In the end, it's the little thing that give XF it's polish.

Often, it's little things that make people subconsciously like or dislike something even if they don't know why.

A perfect example is how Apple designs their Apple stores... down to the screws. They will rip out the sidewalk in front and rebuild it to have symmetrical lines.

In this case, the master element is the stone floor tiles, which are 76 centimeters square (about 30 inches). The glass window panes are then manufactured to a multiple of that dimension. Outside, Apple routinely installs a new sidewalk in front of its street-facing stores. In this case, the sidewalk was made with contraction lines that are also multiple of the stone tile dimension. When all the painstaking design and construction work is finished, passersby and store visitors “see” the effect, but probably don’t realize why the store is so attractive.

People passing by might not know *why* the store is appealing, just that it is (for all sorts of subconscious reasons).

I'm not just a coder, I'm also a design freak. lol I've quite literally spent day mucking with some screwy CSS trying to fix a 1px misalignment before.

 

[Morgain]

People passing by might not know *why* the store is appealing, just that it is (for all sorts of subconscious reasons).

Music to my oversensitive designer ears!

I'm sure Mike and Kier will not mind your critique. Their strength is far too well founded - they genuinely flourish on feedback.
I'm sorry if I suggested that implication.

 

[digitalpoint]

Normally I gripe about the guts of software. The fact that XF's guts are so well thought out that there is very little fixing needing there... So then you are just left with me wanting to fix completely minor crap like this. lol

 

[Kevin]

Normally I gripe about the guts of software. The fact that XF's guts are so well thought out that there is very little fixing needing there... So then you are just left with me wanting to fix completely minor crap like this. lol

So... now that you've pointed it out, and is now bugging those of obsessed with little things, what is the CSS to hide it in the interim?

 

[erich37]

Let me preface this by saying that I already know I'm the world's most anal human being, so no need to point that out...

In the navigation bar, some of the tabs give a pop-up menu (for example Members). What is the purpose of the "Quick Links" label in there? What makes those links quick exactly? Or more importantly, do you really think someone would open that menu and not see the label letting them know there are links in it and be like, "Damn, I wish I could click on these menu items, but I guess they aren't links..."

To *me* it seems like something left over from 10 years ago when DHTML was a novel new thing. Back then they were "quick" because, wow... you could get a menu quickly without needing to go to a table of contents page. But today, I'd say users are past needing a link on a menu labeled as a link.

I would even argue that the "Members" label within the menu should be removed... I just clicked (or hovered) over the Members link, isn't it kind of redundant that this is a members menu? The title in the menu itself would be more appropriate if it was just an icon you were clicking.

In the end, does putting a menu title of "Members" and "Quick Links" make the user experience better for users, or is it there for no purpose other than to just have it there?

Removing both items just looks better/less cluttered in my opinion...

not sure if your suggestion would make look XF better or any more symmetrical....

you are right about the wording for "Quick Links", but on the other hand if you remove that space atop the links, the links would look somehow stucked and bolted together..... as those are to close to each other. The space atop (where is says e.g. "Members") is probably visually or psychologically required......

Esthetically, it looks nicer as it is currently implemented.

Probably your suggestion (screenshot) would look nicer if the font-size would be a bit bigger....or if the horizontal space between the links would be bigger, in order to visually distinguish the links?

 

[Morgain]

Yep precisely. I just told Syndol on another thread that it's quality work that stimulatesw greed for more ... more features.
It's the actual closeness to perfection that makes us want the rest as well!

Third rate stuff stimulates little feedback or further demand. People try it out and dump it.
I guess second rate stuff generates a fair amount of demand but can actually less than the best stuff. If it's second rate you feel like the gap up to perfection is too high. So you either dump iot, or use it and just try to get the priorities in place.

So glory in the demands put upon you oh ye mighty coders!
Verily it is the mark of your radiant and blazing status.

 

[digitalpoint]

So... now that you've pointed it out, and is now bugging those of obsessed with little things, what is the CSS to hide it in the interim?

This should do it...

.tabMenu .menuHeader {display:none}

 

[Morgain]

er for us babes - this goes in EXTRA.css ?

[5 mins later] Yes it does.

 

[digitalpoint]

er for us babes - this goes in EXTRA.css ?

Indeed.

 

[Morgain]

Um any chance while we're on tabs of getting rid of the titchy little arrow for the dropdown?
I'd be a lot more comfy just touching the tab as a whole to get the dropdown. I hate trying to hit the pesky arrow.
It would still mean clicking the tab (as opposed to touching/ hovering) would actually open the top level link.

Apologies if inappropriate on this thread.

 

[digitalpoint]

I believe you can just add the "NoPopupGadget" class to the link in the template to well... not get the popup gadget (arrow thingie).

I could be wrong, but I think that's what I did for my forum jump menu and it has no arrow (if you look at the very beginning of this video, the "Forums" tab gives a drop-down even when in the forums):

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