New Site Menu

[Ryan Jordan]

"Ask and ye shall receive."

I hope you all like the new navmenu which will be online in a few minutes. Thank you to EVERYONE who has been providing us with site nav and usability feedback.

[Sharon Bingham]

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!

Thank you! :)

[Sam Haraldson]

BPL is one step closer to Web 2.0 domination.

[Dustin Meyer]

The new menu is very clean and much more user-friendly than the previous version. It should also allow for the addition of more items under each section (if necessary), since it's not limited by the header width. Thank you to the designers/developers for your work on this.

[Steven Evans]

Visually, I didn't notice the change…life just felt easier in some way. After reading this post, it all makes sense. Good job.

[Ashley Brown]

Hi Ryan,

The vertical format certainly allows for more menu options.

However I must admit I was partial to the horizontal format. Why? Because the submenu is visible and clickable all the time. As an example, the "recent posts" link is one I used to click a lot. Now I have to delve into the menu.

Not a biggie, but I think you'll find you may get less people clicking on some of the previously frequently used submenu items. I've got 'recent posts' bookmarked on my toolbar though, so I guess I can still be pretty lazy.

Anyway, kudos on responding to community demand. Even if I don't agree in this particular case.

[Tim F]

As someone who does over half my forum reading from my mobile device (often when I should be doing something else!), it is a complete PITA! Every page takes ten seconds of scrolling to get past the menu. Every thread, every article. I have not seen it on a regular browser yet, so I can't comment on that.

[Jon Rhoderick]

I like it as well, and it seems like you have pared down some of the blank links as well, terrific!

[Nick K]

If I'm understanding Tim F. correctly, a "skip to content" link might solve the problem in this case.

Please visit http://www.webstandards.org/ and hover your mouse over the very top of the page. A yellow horizontal bar will display which provides the option to skip directly to the main content on the page.

This mechanism is very helpful for folks browsing the web with a mobile device and for disabled folks using alternate browser technologies such as screen readers, etc.

Just an idea :)

Otherwise, I love the new navmenu. Looking good so far on Mac OS X 10.4.11 using Firefox 3.0.5 and Safari 3.2.1. Good job, you lucky webmaster.

Nick

[jonathan lorenz]

the menu change is awesome. Dont know how many times I swore trying to get the rollover click to work. Has there been any complaints about the search box? Aside the old menu, the search box drives me mad. It really shouldn't clear my search on refocus of the text field. It should only clear the default string (*NEW* Search BPL) or it shouldnt clear anything at all.

[Anonymous]

I've made a few tweaks to the nav to accommodate the above requests.

There is a "Skip to Content" link now for text browsers and aural browsers. Those of you with CSS support won't see it.

The search text field now operates as requested.

[jonathan lorenz]

Sorry for being unclear in my previous post. Writing isnt my strong suit. The main problem still exists. When I do a search and the request comes back if I want to narrow my search or correct a typo the field shouldnt clear itself. The string should still exist in the field since I entered it in. A user should have to delete a string that he has entered into a text field at any given time. So for example;

– I search for Tent
– I get my results and decide I wanna narrow the search
– I set focus to text field
– tent should still exist and then i can simply append another string to it and search again.

The default text that exists to inform the user on what to do in the textfield, in this case "Search BPL" should remove itself on focus like previously stated. The only reason i mentioned to remove focus deletion at all was to simplify the code although it looks like the search results page is the page that needs the fix where all the normal pages that have the default text field work just fine.

sorry for the confusion this will be the last of my usability rants! hope this helps. btw the new nav is killer.

[Ashley Brown]

– I search for Tent
– I get my results and decide I wanna narrow the search
– I set focus to text field
– tent should still exist and then i can simply append another string to it and search again.

Jon, the search function works as you describe already on my browser. Maybe you need to empty your cache?

[jonathan lorenz]

haha awesome. I was wondering why only certain pages had the fucntionality….. bed time ughhh.

[Tim F]

Ben-
Thanks for your responsiveness, but I still don't see a "skip to content" anywhere. If it helps, my smartphone is running Windows (God help me!) Mobile version 5, not sure if there is a version number on the Internet Explorer.
Menu looks great on the desktop though. Also, I know it was done a while ago, but the search function works like a champ now!

-Tim

[Ed Barkowski]

SO MUCH BETTER!!!

BPL went from being my favorite website to…my more-favorite website. Thanks Ryan and staff. Looks and feels great!

[Ben Klocek]

Hi Tim,

Give it a try now. I've mad a few tweaks, it should show up when you tab to it.

[Tim F]

Thanks, Ben! It shows up right at the top of the page. I really appreciate your willingness to adjust things based on user input. Now, if there is a way you can help me accomplish my work WHILE I read the forums and articles…

Hi, my name is Tim and I'm a forumaholic!

[Author]

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