Header update: click-based drop-down menus [completed]

R

r3naissanc3r

Honoured Citizen
Citizen
I have installed some code that changes the functionality of the header drop-down menus: Instead of being activated when you hover over the corresponding link, they are now activated/deactivated by clicking on the link.

This has several advantages (or at least, features that I consider advantages):

1) All of the header links now function in the same way, namely by responding to click events. In the past, half the links needed to be hovered-over, the other half needed to be clicked. This non-uniformity made for a confusing interface, especially for new members not familiar with the header.
2) It is now possible to expand a menu and have it remain open, even if you continue to do other things on the site, e.g., go back to drafting a post etc. This makes it easier to process the content of the menus, especially the bigger ones (news, laws).
3) It is now possible to have multiple menus open simultaneously if necessary.
4) It is no longer possible to accidentally open a menu simply by moving your mouse cursor, e.g., while going to click the banner at the top to return to the index.

The new functionality is implemented using JavaScript. If you disable JavaScript, or selectively disable scripts, then the header drop-down menus fallback to exactly the same behavior they had before this upgrade - they become hover-based drop-down menus.

This change is experimental. Whether it will remain depends on the responses posted here - if the consensus is against the change, I will revert back to the old type of menus.

Also, if you do prefer the click-based functionality but have suggestions for minor changes, please post them here and I'll try to accommodate them.
 
I would prefer if expanding one collapsed the others. The stacking multi-open thing is not particularly helpful, and looks weird. Also means many clicks if I find myself in the wrong menu.
 
I look forward to seeing how this works on my phone. The drop-down links (obviously) didn't work there before because I couldn't really "hover," But this seems promising.
 
I have to agree with Darc. I am fine with the click-based drop down menu but I prefer that if you click on one, it collapse the previous menu you had.
 
Mousebumples said:
I look forward to seeing how this works on my phone. The drop-down links (obviously) didn't work there before because I couldn't really "hover," But this seems promising.
Click to expand...
That was already fixed for phone sizes previously.
 
Noto is correct. And on a regular computer, the drop-downs now work basically the same as they did on cell phones after the fix.
 
r3naissanc3r said:
Noto is correct. And on a regular computer, the drop-downs now work basically the same as they did on cell phones after the fix.
Click to expand...
Huh. I just never tried it recently, assuming it didn't work. My mistake.
 
Darcness said:
I would prefer if expanding one collapsed the others. The stacking multi-open thing is not particularly helpful, and looks weird. Also means many clicks if I find myself in the wrong menu.
Click to expand...

Ervald said:
I have to agree with Darc. I am fine with the click-based drop down menu but I prefer that if you click on one, it collapse the previous menu you had.
Click to expand...

This has now been implemented. This was also a change requested by several users in the forum feedback survey.
 
Also, since the feedback for this change has been positive, this feature is now considered permanent. I am marking this thread [completed] for my tracking purposes, though feel free to post comments or report bugs.
 
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