Context Menu Interaction Design
Today I want to talk about using Context Menus in web-based enterprise application design.
What is a context menu?
A context menu is a menu that contains commands specific to the object that the cursor (* see note about touch screens, below) is currently pointing at — the “target object”.
These are also sometimes called “right click menus” or “right mouse menus” since they were, historically, activated by the Windows right mouse button.
Should I use context menus?
Context menus are not for every application. I certainly wouldn’t consider them for a consumer shopping site like Lands End or Amazon. I also think that context menus don’t make sense at low-use consumer oriented sites: banking, dating, even Facebook.
I find that context menus are most useful in large scale enterprise class applications, with users who are accustomed to using them.
And in that environment, they are blindingly useful. Why is that? First, context menus save mouse movement. This means that when your users are involved in highly repetitive actions, they can conserve movement. Instead of selecting an object, then going up to a toolbar and choosing an action, they can perform the…
