Considerations of Menu Structure and Communication Rate for the Design of Computer Menu Displays

Abstract A design methodology is presented for configuring computer menu displays to optimize total execution time for simple menu selection. Communication times and operator times were combined to obtain total execution times for four menu structures spanning the breadth/depth spectrum for 64 items. The broadest menu (64 items in one frame) was favored at the most rapid communication rate (960 characters per s) whereas menus with intermediate values of breadth/ depth (eight items per frame at two levels and four items per frame at three levels) yielded the fastest execution times at slower communication rates.