Design for Mobile Contexts: Evaluating Attitudes Towards Menu Systems in Responsive Websites

Designers face challenges when examining and implementing navigational patterns to accommodate smartphone users. While much research has focused on quantifying the effectiveness of menu systems, less attention has been paid to the role of context. This study examined how attitudes toward three menu systems vary across three contexts. The results showed an interaction effect between the menu systems and context. More specifically, the data revealed that all menu systems were rated lower in the brand page context than in the single-service and service directory contexts. In addition, the results showed that the transient menu system was rated lower than the top persistent and navigation hub menu systems were. The results can aid future designers in choosing a menu system for a specific context. They may also have implications for other digital artifacts that adopt menu systems in their graphical user interface.