Request: changing the down arrow in floating menu

July 26, 2018 3:25 PM

In the floating menu that appears after scrolling a bit down the page, between the profile icon and the x, is a small downwards arrow that looks exactly like what many sites use as an "expand menu" button (for example, see "Menu v" on the exact same floating menu). It is not an expand menu button. It is a "proceed to bottom of page" button.

I regularly- at least once per site visit- get confused and click it, when I want to expand the menu to access "recent activity", and then find myself at the bottom of the page. It can be quite annoying to then navigate to wherever I was in the middle of the page.

I'm aware this is a very minor UI issue, but I wanted to raise the possibility of replacing the icon with something less visually suggestive of an "Expand menu" button. I'm making a metatalk post about this because whether it's worth doing probably depends on how many other people besides me are affected by this.

posted by Cozybee to Feature Requests at 3:25 PM (17 comments total)

Heya, I'm cool with hearing thoughts on this, yeah. The original priority there was something small, separate from the menu, that conveys "hey, there's stuff down there", and if we can get some consensus on a decent looking but more unambiguous way to communicate that with the same footprint I'd be happy to consider a change.

For anybody saying "what arrow?", we're talking specifically about the mobile view for the Modern theme; the down arrow icon doesn't appear on desktop-size views. The Classic mobile theme has, in an equivalent top-right position, a small link that says [skip to menu] and no matching skip-to-top button at the bottom.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:30 PM on July 26, 2018

I like it the way it is now and use it on the regular to get to the bottom of a page.
posted by cooker girl at 5:39 PM on July 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

You could make it a double arrow. That conveys a better sense of moving down.
posted by SLC Mom at 5:56 PM on July 26, 2018 [6 favorites]

the down arrow icon doesn't appear on desktop-size views

It does on mine? Modern theme, FireFox on various Windows versions; I never really noticed it before, but looking at it right now I see "v x" at the far right of the floating top menu.

You could make it a double arrow. That conveys a better sense of moving down.

Or an arrow with a tail.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:17 PM on July 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

I always click on the arrow on long threads and it never works for me so I have to scroll all the way to the bottom. I don't know why I always click on an arrow that never works but I do. Maybe this time will be different.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:31 PM on July 26, 2018

To me it looks like a "skip to the end" button. My library catalogue uses the same style and uses an arrow without a line to mean next. Like when you're playing a CD and either want to fast forward ⏩ through a song or skip to the next one ⏭️. Huh. Maybe two triangles/arrows?

Oh, and I use it all the time. Super useful, but as long as we've got something useable and understandable, I'm happy.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:55 PM on July 26, 2018

On mobile (android, chrome), I get an arrow with a line below it that doesn't do anything when clicked; I think it's a good style for the button, though.
On desktop, I don't have the bar below it, and the arrow does look an awful lot like something I'd expect to trigger a dropdown menu. It works, though!
posted by sagc at 10:56 PM on July 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

On mobile (android, chrome), I get an arrow with a line below it that doesn't do anything when clicked;

Same, and we have discussed it before but apparently it is an issue with Chrome so bah humbug.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:35 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

the down arrow icon doesn't appear on desktop-size views

It does on mine?

Mine too, Internet Explorer 11 (work computer, shut up), Modern Dark.
posted by Etrigan at 7:52 AM on July 27, 2018

To me, the downward caret mark looks more like a "click to expand" button than the filled downward triangle on the left side next to Menu. It didn't occur to me until seeing this MeTa post, but it seems like the icons should be reversed if the button on the left is meant to expand a menu and the one on the right is meant to send the user down somewhere. (I'm picturing an elevator "down" button.)
posted by emelenjr at 9:33 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am constantly clicking the arrow when I want to log out, because I expect it to be a drop-down menu. Instead I click, sigh, and then scroll allllllllllllllllllllll the way back up. I would love to see it changed so it doesn't look like a pull-down menu indicator.
posted by sarcasticah at 4:51 PM on July 29, 2018

I am constantly clicking the arrow when I want to log out, because I expect it to be a drop-down menu. Instead I click, sigh, and then scroll allllllllllllllllllllll the way back up.

Does the up button not work for you?
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:07 PM on July 29, 2018

Summing up real quick: no one seems opposed to having the icon changed and some people have the same problem as me.

I personally am very in favor of Margalo Eps's suggestion of a "fastforward style" icon of two triangles and a line, to me that would immediately and intuitively suggest "fast forward to end of thread" and looks nothing like a menu expansion. Here is my awful rendering in MS Paint.
posted by Cozybee at 12:23 AM on July 30, 2018

I don't see an up button anywhere.
posted by sarcasticah at 8:54 AM on August 1, 2018

(Yep, just looked again, and... no Up button.)
posted by sarcasticah at 8:55 AM on August 1, 2018

For me, it's visible below the comment field, but above tags, on the right side. You might want to check in with Frimble about the bug.
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:16 PM on August 1, 2018

Would love the up button, too, but I don’t see it on mobile Safari, alas.
posted by skye.dancer at 7:29 PM on August 2, 2018