[thelist] general trend with primary buttons on drop down menus

Will willthemoor at gmail.com
Fri Jan 22 11:14:11 CST 2010


Make the top link work and be a path to all of the other pages for  
users without JavaScript and/or :hover states (like the iPhone).


On Jan 21, 2010, at 9:23 PM, Bob Meetin <bobm at dottedi.biz> wrote:

> Okay, aside from the fact that not everyone loves dropdowns, what is  
> the general trend with the first button of a dropdown?  Should it be  
> a link or should it simply activate the menu?
>
> I can see times where people might not think to click on it once  
> they see there is a menu forthcoming.  With some menus not every  
> button activates the dropdown, so it is reasonably obvious that  
> those buttons activate pages.  Sometimes I make that top level  
> button link to the same page as the first 'obvious' button.
> A side effect of this practice with some content management systems  
> is that in the page URL you will have a different Itemid (the menu  
> button ID) which I'm thinking will diffuse or confuse search  
> engines.  Is this a valid concern?
>
> You will see something like:
>
> index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=159 ==> this  
> would be the main button
> index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=326 ==> this  
> is the first drop down item
>
> Same content but different itemid
>
> Would there be any reason to create a 301 redirect to train the  
> search engines to see the two as one?
>
> -Bob
> -- 
>
> * * Please support the community that supports you.  * *
> http://evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
>
> For unsubscribe and other options, including the Tip Harvester
> and archives of thelist go to: http://lists.evolt.org
> Workers of the Web, evolt !


More information about the thelist mailing list