I was pondering whether to replace an Options dialog with a beefier-than-normal dropdown this very morning, when up pops Jakob Nielsen’s latest Alertbox. In it he argues in favor of “navigational mega-dropdowns” like the one above. This surprised me, given his past disapproval of the simple kind.
But he says the beefier versions actually overcome the deficiencies of the simple ones. Worth a read. He discourages their use for more robust interactions, though at least one of the positive examples he cites (Office-style ribbons) is used for a simple interaction like selecting a style, not just purely for navigation. So… hopefully that gives me the wiggle room I need to justify my “Options” mega-dropdown…
What do you think? Have you seen success with this kind of thing? Especially for more than basic navigation?