Analysis of the Methods to Decrease the Depth of Menu in Web Site

웹사이트 메뉴 Depth를 줄이는 방식간의 비교 분석

To enhance web site's usability, it has been suggested that the depth of tree structured menus should be minimized. In this research, experimental results are reported to quantitatively compare the methods currently used for reducing the depth of menus in web sites. 25 popular web sites were selected and their menu types were categorized into four types: top menu, drop-down menu, boolean menu, and table of contents. The four types of menu were then sub-categorized into 15 different types according to their sub-menu type, existence of menu colors, and the event occurring after mouse activation. Performance tests and subjective evaluation were carried out. The results showed that there were no significant differences in terms of response time among the 15 menu types, while table of contents and drop-down in which the first and second level of menus were visible induced the least number of errors. In the subjective test, the top-menu structure with colors and presentation of its sub-menu without clicking mouse were preferred.