947971 - Top-level nav inconsistency: some items are menus, some are not, but they all look the same

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Design, defect, P1)

Description

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

Attachment: Mozilla_Developer_Program_-_Mozilla___MDN-13.png

Currently, the top nav on MDN has several items: zones, web platform, developer program, tools, and demos. Only the first two drop down menus when you point at them, but all of them look the same.

The "zones" and "web platform" items should have a triangle indicator to show that they will open a menu or something like that.

My main concern, other than the consistency issue, is that people may worry that they should be getting menus on the other options, but aren't due to a bug, network problem or whatever.

See screenshot.

Comment 1

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

For tablets I show this:

http://screencast.com/t/Q2yDdQHazhBh

I guess we can always show them?  I'd like input from others though, I find the arrow distracting and ugly on desktop.

Comment 2

[John Karahalis [:openjck]]

Good catch, Sheppy!

I personally prefer the header with them, because I prefer interfaces to be explicit, but that might just be me. Would be interested to hear what Holly thinks.

I will submit a PR for this, even if we ultimately choose not to merge it.

Comment 3

[John Karahalis [:openjck]]

We could also think about using a different icon, or turning the font-weight of the icon down (maybe about .9em?). Any thoughts, Sean?

Comment 4

[John Karahalis [:openjck]]

FWIW this is what it looks like with font-size: .9em

http://i.imgur.com/THG7WWI.png

Comment 5

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

I like it with the triangles on those items.

Comment 6

[Jean-Yves Perrier [:teoli]]

We need a visual clue (triangles or something else). I was demoing the new theme to a friend earlier today and this one the first feedback I got (after the initial woah). I was about to file a bug.

Comment 7

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

I update the menu to always show arrows when there's a submenu.