E. Eugene Schultz
Abstract
The breadth/depth trade-off in menu structure refers to advantages and disadvantages of menu breadth (having fewer levels/pages of menu selections with more selections per level) and depth (having more levels/pages with fewer selections per level). Several studies (Snowberry, Parkinson & Sisson, 1983; Landauer & Nachbar, 1985) demonstrate enhanced user performance with increased breadth. However, other studies (Miller, 1981; Kiger, 1984; Tullis, 1985) fail to show an advantage in user performance with increased depth. Complicating the breadth/depth issue is the issue of the ordering of selections within each menu level. Snowberry et al. found superiority of breadth only with consistent ordering of selections within levels. Card (1982) reported that alphabetical ordering of selections is superior to functional ("logical") ordering, which in turn is superior to random ordering.
- Card, S. K. (1982) User Perceptual Mechanisms in the Search of Computer Command Menus. Proceedings of Human Factors in Computer Systems. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Kiger, J. I. (1984) The Depth/Breadth Trade-Off in the Design of Menu Driven User Interfaces. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 20, 201--213. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Landauer, T. K. & Nachbar, D. W. (1985) Selection from Alphabetic and Numeric Menu Trees Using a Touch Screen: Breadth, Depth, and Width. Proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Miller, D. P. (1981) The Depth/Breadth Trade-Off in Hierarchical Computer Menus. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 25th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, California: The Human Factors Society.Google Scholar
- Snowberry, K., Parkinson, S. R. & Sisson, N. (1983) Computer Display Menus. Ergonomics, 26, 699--712.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Tullis, T. S. (1985) Designing a Menu-Based Interface to an Operating System. Proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. Google ScholarDigital Library
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