Where do you prefer your menus

[hawthornso23]

I'm not talking about anything else. I'm not asking which GUI you prefer or what sucks or rocks or anything. Just the placement of menus. Where do you prefer them to be? Do you want them in a menu bar on the top of the screen like unity and apple. Or do you you prefer them attached to the application window like gnome2 and windows. Would you like to be able to choose where they go, so you can have them one way on your netbook and another on your multiple screen desktop. Or don't you care because you never use a GUI anyway.

[Paqman]

Really don't mind. I've used system with the menus at the top, at the bottom, and systems with no menu structure at all. They're all good, you just get used to whatever you've got.

[forrestcupp]

I prefer my menu to be taken by my server after I order, rather than left on the table. ;)

You disappointed me. Here I am hungry, and I find out this is just about GUI menus.

[Bandit]

I prefer to be able to move it based on my current needs.
For gods sake even Win95 lets you move the dang taskbar!

[SoFl W]

You can make multiple choices? That should throw off the results.

I prefer it on the application, but I believe the user should have the choice.

[Copper Bezel]

Bandit, he's not talking about the taskbar - just the application menu.

Personally, I think they're largely superfluous, and for the applications that need them, they ought to be in the individual application's window for various reasons. But then, I've never really used a global menu (except by putting it on a hidden panel to get rid of the menus entirely.)

[NightwishFan]

My software I usually make the menu under a single menu button (like firefox 4+).

[BrokenKingpin]

I think the application should control the menus... I really can't stand the unified menus in Unity or MacOS.

[aeiah]

on the application - i dont have to move my mouse as far, and save on button clicks

[Islington]

If there is space, then in a global menubar, if not I prefer them to be in the window decoration.

[hawthornso23]

If there is space, then in a global menubar, if not I prefer them to be in the window decoration.

Isn't one of the purposes of a global menu supposedly to save space?

[forrestcupp]

Well, I just installed Ubuntu for the first time in a couple of years, so now I have an opinion.

My opinion is that having all of the app menus in the system panel royally sucks. It's confusing, and it takes the place of the system menus that are there when there isn't an app running. What if I want to access one of those system menus when I'm running a program? Instead, I have to try to navigate through the side panel.

[hawthornso23]

Thanks everyone who answered. Interesting result. Glad to see that it isn't just me then.

[Bachstelze]

Surprised by how few others answered "I don't care" because really, who cares where the menu is? I have better things to do than worrying about that.

[Paqman]

Surprised by how few others answered "I don't care" because really, who cares where the menu is? I have better things to do than worrying about that.

Well, he is polling the same community that chucked all it's toys out of the cot about switching the window buttons to the other side of the window.

The Linux community excels at raising a storm in a teacup.

[Tibuda]

I prefer then in a button like Chrome and Nautilus-Elementary.

[wizard10000]

We're having this discussion on my own forum right now in a Mac vs non-Mac thread :)

The *only* thing I have against MacOS is that I prefer my application menus in the application window instead of at the top of the screen. Too much mouse movement otherwise, but then I put my panel at the top of the screen. I think most people do most of their work in the top half of the screen anyway.

[LarsKongo]

Stick the menubar in a clear and visible button in the window decoration's top left corner. I love how Firefox and Opera do it in Windows. But also let me choose because choice is good. :)

[XubuRoxMySox]

In Openbox I just right-click anywhere on the desktop and the menu appears right there. Openbox lets me choose - every time.

-Robin

[bowens44]

Well, he is polling the same community that chucked all it's toys out of the cot about switching the window buttons to the other side of the window.

The Linux community excels at raising a storm in a teacup.

You can bet that the majority of us put them back on the 'right' side where they belong. Bad design is bad design. Moving the buttons and the menu is bad design.

[ve4cib]

I'm one of those weirdos who prefers the menus to be in a global menu bar. I've been using various Gnome2 panel applets to accomplish that for a few years. Yes, it took some time to adjust, but once you get over the initial "Ah! My menu isn't where it used to be!" problems it's really not that bad.

I find global menus are especially useful with trackpads, since there's way less precision required (just throw the cursor the the top of the screen and click), and I'm terribly inaccurate when using trackpads.

Global menus are also nice when you're using small, widescreen monitors. Being able to consistently have an extra cm of usable screen space for the actual window contents is surprisingly handy.

All that being said, I'm a strong proponent of letting people choose how they want their UI arranged -- especially in Linux. Gnome2 and KDE have panel applets/plasma widgets that let you enable/disable global menus as you desire. That seems like a nice way of doing it from my perspective; people like me can have their global menus, and people like forrestcupp can have their menus in the window.

[Copper Bezel]

You can bet that the majority of us put them back on the 'right' side where they belong.
It's an even split for preference, left or right. There have been polls.

Bad design is bad design.
Good thing we're not talking about anything remotely objective, then.

[Morbius1]

In order of preference:

1 - part of the application

2 - global menu like OSX

3 - global menu like Unity

2 and 3 are not the same. In OSX there is a global menu that changes depending on what application has focus. It's actually quite unnerving to me. In Unity it disappears entirely untill you hover over the task bar.

[ScionicSpectre]

I think the fact that the 'global menu bar' has been around since the first Mac OS indicates something. First, that it may be one of the best implementations of menu toolbar from a basic design perspective (out of sight, out of mind, unless needed).

Second, it highlights just how old-fashioned and flawed the concept of that kind of menu layout is. Most applications have evolved to the point that they've been putting all kinds of functions into various parts of those menus, and many of those menu items merely lead to huge, elaborate dialog boxes, rather than providing significant functionality themselves.

I like the concept of mega menus, similar to what Firefox and Chromium do, although I think they could both improve the concept a bit better. In general, though, it's better (for me) to group the core functionality in slabs in a larger, singular menu. Like the mockups for GNOME 3's mega menu concepts, I think it would be great to have bolded subheadings in a single menu than to force the user to scrub through various words just to find what is usually a simple option.

And for 'Preferences' or 'Options' dialogs, which is often the only reason someone goes to a menu at all, there could be an obvious place or icon for them in the top of the mega-menu.

Of course, it would be best to do some usability testing to decide on some guidelines for how to layout your menus. It would also be wise to make sure you have a 'backup' old-style menu in case there are issues with compatibility, or people wanting the 'old way'. However, in the long run I think our current accepted menu design is something that is both poorly conceived and easily fixed. I doubt it would take developer very long to make their own specialized menu layouts and take out the cruft among their items. There is also certain functionality that aren't always applicable, which wouldn't need to appear at all times in a menu.

TL|DR We can do better menus than the kind that line up across the top of something.

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

In order of preference:

1 - part of the application

2 - global menu like OSX

3 - global menu like Unity

2 and 3 are not the same. In OSX there is a global menu that changes depending on what application has focus. It's actually quite unnerving to me. In Unity it disappears entirely untill you hover over the task bar.
I second this post.

[hawthornso23]

I think the fact that the 'global menu bar' has been around since the first Mac OS indicates something. First, that it may be one of the best implementations of menu toolbar from a basic design perspective (out of sight, out of mind, unless needed).

I disagree. Apple stuck with global menus in my opinion not because they are better, but as a point of distinctiveness, and because apple users are a funny lot and would object were they to change. In small devices global menus are less strange and may even have slight advantages, which is why unity ended up with them. But putting them back onto the desktop is a step backwards.


Second, it highlights just how old-fashioned and flawed the concept of that kind of menu layout is. Most applications have evolved to the point that they've been putting all kinds of functions into various parts of those menus, and many of those menu items merely lead to huge, elaborate dialog boxes, rather than providing significant functionality themselves.

I like the concept of mega menus, similar to what Firefox and Chromium do, although I think they could both improve the concept a bit better.

...

We can do better menus than the kind that line up across the top of something.I strongly agree with your comments here. I think the menu button is a great idea. But regardless of whether it is a button or traditional menu, I'd prefer it be attached to the application.

[Tibuda]

In Openbox I just right-click anywhere on the desktop and the menu appears right there. Openbox lets me choose - every time.

-Robin

people are not talking about "main menu" or "start menu", but the applications menus, like "File, Edit, View..."

[Rodney9]

in openbox i just right-click anywhere on the desktop and the menu appears right there. Openbox lets me choose - every time.

-robin

+ 1

[1024260608]

You can make multiple choices? That should throw off the results.

I prefer it on the application, but I believe the user should have the choice.



yes,you should have the choice .

todayisp

[Paqman]

You can bet that the majority of us put them back on the 'right' side where they belong. Bad design is bad design. Moving the buttons and the menu is bad design.

Lol, thank you for proving my point!

[goldshirt9]

this is linux.
you can have them how you want.wit a little research ;)