Editing Menu (computing) (section)

== {{anchor|Sub-menus}} Submenus ==
[[Image:View menu and submenu.PNG|thumb|282px|Menu and expanded submenu]]

Menus are sometimes hierarchically organized, allowing navigation through different levels of the menu structure. Selecting a menu entry with an arrow will expand it, showing a second menu (the submenu) with options related to the selected entry.

[[Usability]] of submenus has been criticized as difficult, because of the narrow height that must be crossed by the [[pointer (computing WIMP)|pointer]]. The [[steering law]] predicts that this movement will be slow, and any error in touching the boundaries of the parent menu entry will hide the submenu. Some techniques proposed to alleviate these errors are keeping the submenu open while moving the pointer in diagonal, and using ''mega menus'' designed to enhance scannability and categorization of its contents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mega-dropdown-menus.html|title=Mega Drop-Down Navigation Menus Work Well|author=Jakob Nielsen}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mega-menus-wrong.html|title=Mega-Menus Gone Wrong|author=Jakob Nielsen|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720171049/https://www.nngroup.com/articles/mega-menus-gone-wrong/|archivedate=2018-07-20}}</ref> Negative [[user experience]] with submenus is referred to as "menu diving".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hennion |first1=Antoine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79kiEAAAQBAJ&dq=user+experience+%22menu+diving%22&pg=PA178 |title=Rethinking Music through Science and Technology Studies |last2=Levaux |first2=Christophe |date=2021-05-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-38195-5 |pages=178 |language=en}}</ref>