Pull-down versus traditional menu types: An empirical comparison

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test the performance of pull-down versus traditional or explicit menus. Sixty subjects, including novice and experienced computer users, manipulated both types of menus to complete banking tasks similar to those found on Automatic Teller M achines. The order of the menus was randomly varied to control for learning effects. Across both types of users, traditional-style menus elicited fewer errors than did pull-down menus; however, no significant difference was found in the time to complete the banking task. Experienced users outperformed novice users in the amount of time taken to complete the task regardless of menu type, though no difference was found in the number of errors committed by both user types.