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Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

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Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#91

Post by lectrick »

namenotrequired wrote: post #9
tyw wrote: post #6

I seem to recall this same technique being used in the pre-OS X era of the Mac OS. Not sure exactly how far back, but I'd say at least into System 8 if not System 7.

You're right, mac has been using this technique for a while. Actually trying it out right now, it still does this, but you need to move it fast. If you move it fast enough within the triangle it'll stay, while if you move it at the same speed straight down, the menu goes away immediately.

There is a small delay, so they don't use the Amazon technique.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#92

Post by IheartApplesDix »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #61
calhoun137 wrote: post #55

There is an important point to be made about the quote from the end of this article. "Thanks go to Ben Alpert for helping me understand the linear algebra / cross-product magic ...I ended up going w/ a cruder slope-based approach, mostly b/c I’ve lost all intuitive understanding of linear algebra" Let that be a wake up call to all of the programmers who continue to claim that you can "get away" with out knowing much…

I took away the exact opposite - this is yet another example of not needing to know the right math. In the end, he can study up a bit and/or seek out a friend who does know, but be got the hack done without it. This is how it works with my wife and I sometimes. I write a lot of code, and she either fixes or writes or advises me on the bit I need to work much better. I admit we can't run the world or write good code w…

Two sides of the same coin. Whether you know math or someone on your team does, no good programming is getting done without it.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#93

Post by IheartApplesDix »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #61
calhoun137 wrote: post #55

There is an important point to be made about the quote from the end of this article. "Thanks go to Ben Alpert for helping me understand the linear algebra / cross-product magic ...I ended up going w/ a cruder slope-based approach, mostly b/c I’ve lost all intuitive understanding of linear algebra" Let that be a wake up call to all of the programmers who continue to claim that you can "get away" with out knowing much…

I took away the exact opposite - this is yet another example of not needing to know the right math. In the end, he can study up a bit and/or seek out a friend who does know, but be got the hack done without it. This is how it works with my wife and I sometimes. I write a lot of code, and she either fixes or writes or advises me on the bit I need to work much better. I admit we can't run the world or write good code w…

Two sides of the same coin. Whether you know math or someone on your team does, no good programming is getting done without it.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#94

Post by Mahn »

salman89 wrote: post #85
Mahn wrote: post #80

I don't get why is detecting the mouse direction necessary in the case of the Amazon dropdown; I can see the utility in the Bootstrap example that the article highlights, but if the dropdown menu and its submenus both fit in a perfect square, wouldn't it be enough to detect whether the cursor is inside of either the menu or the submenu to properly show/hide the dropdown and its submenus? What are the drawbacks of thi…

The issue is that when you are hovering over a menu item, and you are aiming to hit a submenu item that is not directly to the right of the menu item. For example, if you are hovering over a menu item and wish to select a a submenu item that is to the right and down the screen, you will take a down-right path UX wise. Normally this would trigger the menu items below (before you make it to the submenu) and thus change…

Ah, I see it now, that makes sense, thanks for the clarification.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#95

Post by Mahn »

spicyj wrote: post #83
Mahn wrote: post #80

I don't get why is detecting the mouse direction necessary in the case of the Amazon dropdown; I can see the utility in the Bootstrap example that the article highlights, but if the dropdown menu and its submenus both fit in a perfect square, wouldn't it be enough to detect whether the cursor is inside of either the menu or the submenu to properly show/hide the dropdown and its submenus? What are the drawbacks of thi…

If you move your mouse straight down within the left side, the submenu should change immediately.

Pretty sure that's possible without tracking the direction of the mouse, by simply not hiding/showing the submenu but changing its contents when the mouse hovers over a different menu element.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#96

Post by jschuur »

tjic wrote: post #81
null_ptr wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, are the blog commenters' lawsuit fears legitimate?

No one will answer this. If they say "no", they're speaking for Amazon, and saying "we give you a right to infringe our patent". If they say "yes", they're speaking for Amazon, and making the firm look douchey. Mu - unask the question.

It's perfectly valid to ask a question, even if you know the other side can't answer it.

That doesn't mean we should give the engineers who come to this time a hard time about not answering it. It's just a legitimate thing to ask out loud.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#97

Post by revorad »

Nycto wrote: post #43

Hey all, I'm on the team that built this. We also built the redesign that launched last year. In fact, this was part of that. The article pretty much nails our implementation. Point of fact: Our team is recruiting. If you dig UX projects like this, shoot our manager Chad an email: chaddes at amazon dot com

Off-topic, but can't miss this opportunity:

Please tell us why the Amazon homepage doesn't auto-focus into the search box. I think of this every single time I go to the site.

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#99

Post by Encave »

You can sort of do the same thing in just CSS by adding two small boxes as :after and :before pseudo elements.

See: http://i.imgur.com/aSnjEYx.png Not perfect, but pretty close.

Relevant SASS:

  $boxSize:30px

  &:hover:after, &:hover:before
    content: " "
    display: block
    position: absolute
    top: 50%
    right: -$boxSize
    height: $boxSize
    width: $boxSize
    background-color: transparent
    z-index: 1000
  
  &:hover:before
    right: auto
    left: -$boxSize

Re: Breaking down Amazon's mega dropdown

#100

Post by beernutz »

Thank you for the write-up on this! Like you, that has been a pet-peeve of mine as well.

I wonder if we can get a comment from Amazon or Nycto, on why the search box is not auto-focused though. This seems like such a natural thing to do, and saves your users a mouse move and click every time they come to the site.

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