{"id":61,"date":"2010-11-23T18:31:30","date_gmt":"2010-11-23T17:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/office.intu.io\/newsite\/en\/cascaded-menus\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T09:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T08:20:46","slug":"cascaded-menus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intu.io\/blog\/cascaded-menus\/","title":{"rendered":"Cascaded Menus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"large\">A large number of commands must be placed in a menu.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/intu.io\/blogimg\/patterns\/pattern_cascadedMenus.png\"><\/p>\n<p>The sample shows a cascaded menu, which can be accessed from a speed dial button to assign a telephone entry either by entering data manually or by picking from a list of existing entries.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Context<\/h2>\n<p>The operator needs to access a less frequently used function.<\/p>\n<h2>Forces<\/h2>\n<p>The user may have trouble finding the correct path down a nested menu structure; available screen estate is an issue as well. Therefore, the number of possible levels as well as the number of entries should be limited such that no scrolling is required. A maximum of 3 nested levels and 7 menu items should be observed. <\/p>\n<h2>Solution<\/h2>\n<p>Menus are lists of command buttons and may have nested sub menus. They are displayed in dialogs, which are always on top and mode-less, i.e., they immediately close when the user taps on any other region of the screen. Menu entries opening sub menus have a right-hand arrow indicator and a distinct button shape.<\/p>\n<h2>Usability Impact<\/h2>\n<p>Cognitive load<\/p>\n<h2>Safety Impact<\/h2>\n<p>Screen estate can be freed up for other, safety-relevant functions. Less frequently needed functions, which are not safety-relevant, can be placed in sub menus.<\/p>\n<h2>Your opinion!<\/h2>\n<p>Feel free to provide your comments, reports of usage of this pattern, or feedback in general!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumbnail\" align=\"left\" src=\"https:\/\/intu.io\/blogimg\/patterns\/pattern_cascadedMenus_preview.png\">This pattern defines the gestalt principle of affordance for user interface patterns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16,24,104],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patterns","tag-behavioural","tag-capacitive","tag-resistive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cascaded Menus - intuio Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/intu.io\/blog\/cascaded-menus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cascaded Menus - intuio Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This pattern defines the gestalt principle of affordance for user interface patterns.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/intu.io\/blog\/cascaded-menus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"intuio Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-23T17:31:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-21T08:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/intu.io\/blogimg\/patterns\/pattern_cascadedMenus.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"intuio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@intuio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"intuio\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"intuio\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9be7154f89eb1c979c8e224658ddd11e\"},\"headline\":\"Cascaded Menus\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-23T17:31:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-21T08:20:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":218,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blogimg\\\/patterns\\\/pattern_cascadedMenus.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Behavioural\",\"Capacitive\",\"Resistive\"],\"articleSection\":[\"patterns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/intu.io\\\/blog\\\/cascaded-menus\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cascaded Menus - 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